Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS) Pediatric Trauma Care Initiative: A Call for a Comprehensive Approach to a Global Problem.

INTRODUCTION: Trauma is a major problem which has a significant health, social, and economic impact. Particularly, pediatric trauma carries substantial mortality and morbidity. This is a great concern for subspecialized general and pediatric surgeons. Therefore, a global initiative for pediatric trauma care is warranted and should be initiated. AIM: The international association "Global Initiative for Children's Surgery" (GICS) would like to propose and organize a children's trauma care (CTC) initiative. This initiative should comprehensively address pediatric trauma management globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The initiative seeks to achieve a structured cooperation and collaboration with respective sister organizations and local stakeholders. METHODS: The initiative will address these relevant aspects: 1. first aid; 2. prehospital primary trauma care; 3. hospital primary trauma care; 4. advanced care (ATLS); 5. diagnostic facilities; 6. operation room (OR) equipment; 7. specialized surgical services; 8. rehabilitation; 9. registry, research, and auditing; 10. specialization in pediatric trauma; 11. capacity and confidence building in pediatric trauma; 12. PREVENTION: The GICS CTC provided activities have been recorded and evaluated in a structured manner. This statement paper is based on data of a narrative review as well as expert opinions. RESULTS: The Trauma Working Group of GICS provided specialized trauma prevention leaflets available for translation to different languages. A one-day children's primary trauma course has been designed to be delivered at the physical GICS meetings. Exercising advocacy, the group addressed several meetings on prevention of pediatric trauma, which included the 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (2020), GICS IVth meeting in Johannesburg (2020), Norwich (UK) Joint SPRINT Symposium on Pediatric Surgery for Pediatricians (2021), the second online Pan African Pediatric Surgical Association (PAPSA) meeting (2021), the seventh World Congress of the World Federation of Associations of Pediatric Surgeons (WOFAPS) in Prague (2022), and GICS pediatric trauma webinar (2023). Additionally, the working group participated in the preparations of a pediatric trauma module for the World Health Organization (WHO) and published several related studies. The contents of the selected articles added relevant information to the categories stated above. CONCLUSIONS: The CTC initiative of GICS is proposed as a mean to address pediatric trauma comprehensively through a process of collaboration and advocacy with existing organizations to achieve awareness, health education, prevention, health, and training. Further, it will support the provision of suitable facilities to health institutions. The establishment of a specialization in pediatric trauma is encouraged. GICS CTC initiative aims to improve pediatric trauma care in LMICs by developing injury prevention strategies; optimizing the use of locally available resources; obtaining commitment by LMICs governments; improvement in all fields of hospital care; improvements in infrastructure, education and training, and attention to data registry and research.

Trauma and sexual abuse in children-Epidemiology, challenges, management strategies and prevention in lower- and middle-income countries.

Trauma is rising as a cause of morbidity and mortality in lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This article describes the Epidemiology, Challenges, Management strategies and prevention of pediatric trauma in lower- and middle-income countries. The top five etiologies for non-intentional injuries leading to death are falls, road traffic injuries, burns, drowning and poisoning. The mortality rate in LMICs is twice that of High-Income Countries (HICs) irrespective of injury severity adjustment. The reasons for inadequate care include lack of facilities, transportation problems, lack of prehospital care, lack of resources and trained manpower to handle pediatric trauma. To overcome these challenges, attention to protocolized care and treatment adaptation based on resource availability is critical. Training in management of trauma helps to reduce the mortality and morbidity in pediatric polytrauma cases. There is also a need for more collaborative research to develop preventative measures to childhood trauma.

Intra-thoracic pancreatic pseudocyst: a rare complication of traumatic pancreatitis.

The commonest complication of traumatic pancreatitis is the development of pancreatic pseudocyst. We report a patient with traumatic pancreatitis following blunt abdominal trauma who developed an intrathoracic pancreatic pseudocyst late in the course of non-operative management, and discuss the management of this very rare complication of traumatic pancreatitis.

Chronic inflammatory changes seen in gallbladders of patients with pancreatico-biliary malunion years after transduodenal sphincterotomy: is it a precursor for gallbladder carcinoma?

Common pancreaticobiliary channel malunion (PBM) is known to be associated with increased frequency of gallbladder (GB) cancer in adults. Few studies have reported the presence of histological changes in the GB following transduodenal drainage procedures in children with PBM. The aim of this study was to document the histological changes in the GB in children who underwent interval prophylactic cholecystectomy up to 18 years following PBM drainage procedure. All children who underwent open transduodenal sphincterotomy (TDS) for symptomatic PBM followed by prophylactic synchronous (open) and interval (laparoscopic) cholecystectomy between 1987 and 2007 were studied retrospectively. Eight children with PBM were identified. The median age at initial presentation and open transduodenal sphincterotomy was 8 months (1 month-3.5 years). The average interval between open TDS and prophylactic cholecystectomy was 5.5 years (0-18 years). Two children had synchronous TDS and cholecystectomy. At initial presentation, all patients presented with obstructive jaundice. Mild common bile duct dilatation was encountered in all patients. The dilated ducts returned to normal, and remained normal after transduodenal sphincterotomy. Histopathology in seven out of eight GB specimens (87.5%) showed microscopic evidence of chronic inflammation. Chronic cholecystitis (n = 7), Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses (n = 3), cholesterosis (n = 1) and intestinal metaplasia (n = 1) were observed in the GB biopsies. Only one patient, who had TDS and a synchronous cholecystectomy in the neonatal period, did not have histological changes in the GB. Average follow-up in years ranged between 3 months and 19 years (from TDS) with a median of 8 years, and between 3 months and 6 years (from cholecystectomy) with a median of 2 years. Chronic inflammatory changes were found in seven of eight GB specimens from patients with PBM despite previous drainage procedure in six patients and in one of two patients who underwent synchronous TDS and cholecystectomy. These changes may be the precursor of malignant transformation in GB of patients with PBM.