Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Vein Access for Placement of Broviac Catheters in Extremely Low Birth Weight Neonates: A Series of 3 Successful Cases.

As medical and surgical interventions to support premature infants have evolved, the need for long-term vascular access in extremely low birth weight infants has increased. The classic approach to Broviac(®) (C.R. Bard, Covington, GA) catheter placement in very small neonates has been through an open surgical cutdown technique. Ultrasound guidance has emerged as a potentially beneficial method for obtaining central venous access in children and is being applied to smaller and smaller infants. This case series reports the feasibility of using ultrasound-guided percutaneous vein access to obtain a long-term central venous line in three extremely low birth weight infants who all weighed less than 850 g at the time of line placement.

Outcomes of sutureless gastroschisis closure.

INTRODUCTION: A new technique of gastroschisis closure in which the defect is covered with sterile dressings and allowed to granulate without suture repair was first described in 2004. Little is known about the outcomes of this technique. This study evaluated short-term outcomes from the largest series of sutureless gastroschisis closures. METHODS AND PATIENTS: A retrospective case control study of 26 patients undergoing sutureless closure between 2006 and 2008 was compared to a historical control group of 20 patients with suture closure of the abdominal fascia between 2004 and 2006. Four major outcomes were assessed: (1) time spent on ventilator, (2) time to initiating enteral feeds, (3) time to discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit, and (4) rate of complications. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, sutureless closure of gastroschisis defects independently reduced the time to extubation as compared to traditional closure (5.0 vs 12.1 days, P = .025). There was no difference in time to full enteral feeds (16.8 vs 21.4 days, P = .15) or time to discharge (34.8 vs 49.7 days, P = .22) with sutureless closure. The need for silo reduction independently increased the time to extubation (odds ratio, 4.2; P = .002) and time to enteral feeds (odds ratio, 5.2; P < .001). Small umbilical hernias were seen in all patients. CONCLUSION: Sutureless closure of uncomplicated gastroschisis is a safe technique that reduces length of intubation and does not significantly alter the time required to reach full enteral feeds or hospital discharge.

Anesthetic management of infants with palliated hypoplastic left heart syndrome undergoing laparoscopic nissen fundoplication.

The safety of laparoscopic surgery in infants with single ventricle physiology has been a subject of controversy despite potential benefits over open surgery. We present the anesthetic management of five infants with palliated hypoplastic left heart syndrome that underwent laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. After anesthetic induction and tracheal intubation, an intraarterial catheter was placed for hemodynamic monitoring. Insufflation pressure was limited to 12 mm Hg and was well tolerated by all patients. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. In patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication can be safely performed with careful patient selection and close intraoperative monitoring.