The diuretic effect of adding aminophylline or theophylline to furosemide in pediatric populations: a systematic review.

The diuretic effect of the combined furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline among pediatric patients remains unclear. The primary aim of this systematic review was to examine the clinical diuretic effects (urine output and fluid balance) of co-administration of furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline as compared to furosemide alone in pediatric population. Ovid MEDLINE, CENTRAL, and EMBASE were searched from its inception until March 2022 for observational studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the administration of furosemide versus furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline in pediatric population. Case reports, case series, commentaries, letters to editors, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses were excluded. Five articles with a total sample population of 187 patients were included in this systematic review. As compared to the furosemide alone, our pooled data demonstrated that co-administration of furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline was associated with higher urine output (mean difference: 2.91 [90% CI 1.54 to 4.27], p < 0.0001, I2 = 90%) and a more negative fluid balance (mean difference - 28.27 [95% CI: - 46.21 to - 10.33], p = 0.002, I2 = 56%) than those who received furosemide alone. CONCLUSION: This is the first paper summarizing the evidence of combined use of furosemide with aminophylline/theophylline in pediatric population. Our systematic review demonstrated that the co-administration of furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline could potentially yield better diuretic effects of urine output and negative fluid balance than furosemide alone in pediatric patients with fluid overload. Given the substantial degree of heterogeneity and low level of evidence, future adequately powered trials are warranted to provide evidence regarding the combined use of aminophylline/theophylline and furosemide as diuretic in the pediatric population. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Fluid overload is associated with poor prognosis for children in the intensive care unit. • The ineffective result of furosemide alone, even at high dose, as diuretic agent for children with diuretic resistant fluid overload in the intensive care unit. WHAT IS NEW: • This is the first systematic review that compares furosemide alone and co-administration of furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline. • This paper showed potential benefit of co-administration of furosemide and aminophylline/theophylline promoting urine output and negative fluid balance compared to furosemide alone.

Effect of adding midazolam to intrathecal bupivacaine in children undergoing lower abdominal surgeries: A randomised controlled trial.

Background and Aims: Avoidance of general anaesthesia for short-duration surgeries is a prerequisite, especially for children. Spinal anaesthesia is established as an appropriate anaesthetic procedure for this target. Midazolam has been proven to be safe for children as premedication. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of adding midazolam to intrathecal bupivacaine on intraoperative quality, duration of spinal anaesthesia and postoperative (PO) analgesia for children undergoing lower abdominal surgeries. Methods: A prospective, comparative interventional study included 120 paediatric patients who were randomly divided into two groups that received intrathecal bupivacaine plus normal saline (B/S) or intrathecal bupivacaine plus midazolam (B/M). The efficacy of PO analgesia was assessed using the observational pain-discomfort scale (OPS). Duration of PO analgesia was measured, and recovery of motor block was assessed every 30 min till the Bromage scale reached 0. The level of PO sedation was assessed using the modified Wilson Sedation Score (WSS). Results were analysed using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, Mann-Whitney test and Chi-square test. Results: Onset of sensory and motor blocks was significantly faster, and the frequency of patients having Bromage score of 3 within ≤10 min was significantly higher in group B/M than group B/S. Durations till sensory and motor recovery were significantly longer, the number of requests for PO analgesia was significantly lower and the mean of WSS was significantly higher at 30 and 120 min in group B/M than group B/S. Conclusion: Intrathecal bupivacaine-midazolam combination significantly prolonged the duration of spinal anaesthesia and provided prolonged PO analgesia.

Effect of prone versus supine position in COVID-19 patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To review the effects of prone position and supine position on oxygenation parameters in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of non-randomized trials. PATIENTS: Databases of EMBASE, MEDLINE and CENTRAL were systematically searched from its inception until March 2021. INTERVENTIONS: COVID-19 patients being positioned in the prone position either whilst awake or mechanically ventilated. MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcomes were oxygenation parameters (PaO2/FiO2 ratio, PaCO2, SpO2). Secondary outcomes included the rate of intubation and mortality rate. RESULTS: Thirty-five studies (n = 1712 patients) were included in this review. In comparison to the supine group, prone position significantly improved the PaO2/FiO2 ratio (study = 13, patients = 1002, Mean difference, MD 52.15, 95% CI 37.08 to 67.22; p < 0.00001) and SpO2 (study = 11, patients = 998, MD 4.17, 95% CI 2.53 to 5.81; p ≤0.00001). Patients received prone position were associated with lower incidence of mortality (study = 5, patients = 688, Odd ratio, OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.80; p = 0.007). No significant difference was noted in the incidence of intubation rate (study = 5, patients = 626, OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.86; p = 0.42) between the supine and prone groups. CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis demonstrated that prone position improved PaO2/FiO2 ratio with better SpO2 than supine position in COVID-19 patients. Given the limited number of studies with small sample size and substantial heterogeneity of measured outcomes, further studies are warranted to standardize the regime of prone position to improve the certainty of evidence. PROSPERO Registration: CRD42021234050.

Genetic Risk Profiling Associated with Recurrent Unprovoked Venous Thromboembolism.

INTRODUCTION: Venous thromboembolism (VTE), including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary embolism (PE), is a common, acute, multifactorial disease with a five-years cumulative incidence of recurrence of approximately 25%. Actually, no single genetic defect can predict the risk of recurrence of VTE. Therefore, individual genetic risk profiling could be useful for the prediction of VTE recurrence. AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess the combined effect of the common prothrombotic genotypes on the risk of recurrence of VTE in recently diagnosed unprovoked VTE patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This population based, prospective follow-up study was carried out from January 2015 to December 2020 in (internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine and anesthesia and ICU departments, Tanta University Hospital, Egypt) on 224 recently diagnosed unprovoked VTE patients. Whole blood was collected by standard venipuncture at the time of admission prior to the beginning of anticoagulant therapy. Genomic DNA was extracted and was genotyped for the 5-SNPs Genetic risk score (GRS), previously validated for first venous thrombosis (FVL rs6025, PTM rs1799963, ABO rs8176719, FGG rs2066865 and FXI rs2036914). RESULTS: The main important finding in the present study was that patients having ≥3 risk alleles were associated with higher risk of VTE recurrence compared to those having ≤2 risk alleles (the reference group) (HR 2.5, 95% CI 1.48-4.21) (p = 0.001). Patients with GRS ≥ 3 had a significantly shorter time recurrence free survival (43.07 months) compared to the low risk group of patients with GRS (0-2) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: GRS model could be an effective and useful model in risk stratification of VTE patients, and genetic risk profiling of VTE patients could be used for the prediction of recurrence of VTE.