Pediatric (PARDS) and neonatal (NARDS) acute respiratory distress syndrome have different age-specific characteristics and definitions. Trials on surfactant for ARDS in children and neonates have ...been performed well before the PARDS and NARDS definitions and yielded conflicting results. This is mainly due to heterogeneity in study design reflecting historic lack of pathobiology knowledge. We reviewed the available clinical and preclinical data to create an expert consensus aiming to inform future research steps and advance the knowledge in this area. Eight trials investigated the use of surfactant for ARDS in children and ten in neonates, respectively. There were improvements in oxygenation (7/8 trials in children, 7/10 in neonates) and mortality (3/8 trials in children, 1/10 in neonates) improved. Trials were heterogeneous for patients' characteristics, surfactant type and administration strategy. Key pathobiological concepts were missed in study design. Consensus with strong agreement was reached on four statements: 1. There are sufficient preclinical and clinical data to support targeted research on surfactant therapies for PARDS and NARDS. Studies should be performed according to the currently available definitions and considering recent pathobiology knowledge. 2. PARDS and NARDS should be considered as syndromes and should be pre-clinically studied according to key characteristics, such as direct or indirect (primary or secondary) nature, clinical severity, infectious or non-infectious origin or patients' age. 3. Explanatory should be preferred over pragmatic design for future trials on PARDS and NARDS. 4. Different clinical outcomes need to be chosen for PARDS and NARDS, according to the trial phase and design, trigger type, severity class and/or surfactant treatment policy. We advocate for further well-designed preclinical and clinical studies to investigate the use of surfactant for PARDS and NARDS following these principles.
The current global outbreak of COVID-19 represents a major challenge in terms of epidemiology, contagiousness, treatment, as well as clinical and radiological behavior of this disease. Radiological ...imaging plays a key role in the diagnostic process and during the monitoring of the clinical conditions especially of patients with severe symptoms. According to the preliminary data collected in our tertiary center, we have documented a peculiar behavior in patients requiring endotracheal intubation who underwent seriate chest X-rays. In fact, the radiological pattern of COVID-19 patients may worsen despite a prompt amelioration after the onset of mechanical ventilation. Thus, according to our initial evidence, we recommend to perform seriate chest X-rays in the days following the onset of mechanical ventilation even if the immediate monitoring suggests an improvement. Studies on a larger scale are necessary to fully assess the findings at chest radiographs of critical, mechanically ventilated patients and their correlation with the long-term outcome.
Lung ultrasound allows lung aeration to be assessed through dedicated lung ultrasound scores (LUS). Despite LUS have been validated using several techniques, scanty data exist about the relationships ...between LUS and compliance of the respiratory system (Crs) in restrictive respiratory failure. Aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between LUS and Crs in neonates and adults affected by acute hypoxemic restrictive respiratory failure, as well as the effect of patients' age on this relationship.
Observational, cross-sectional, international, patho-physiology, bi-center study recruiting invasively ventilated, adults and neonates with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), neonatal ARDS (NARDS) or respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) due to primary surfactant deficiency. Subjects without lung disease (NLD) and ventilated for extra-pulmonary conditions were recruited as controls. LUS, Crs and resistances (Rrs) of the respiratory system were measured within 1 h from each other.
Forty adults and fifty-six neonates were recruited. LUS was higher in ARDS, NARDS and RDS and lower in control subjects (overall p < 0.001), while Crs was lower in ARDS, NARDS and RDS and higher in control subjects (overall p < 0.001), without differences between adults and neonates. LUS and Crs were correlated in adults r = - 0.86 (95% CI - 0.93; - 0.76), p < 0.001 and neonates r = - 0.76 (95% CI - 0.85; - 0.62), p < 0.001. Correlations remained significant among subgroups with different causes of respiratory failure; LUS and Rrs were not correlated. Multivariate analyses confirmed the association between LUS and Crs both in adults B = - 2.8 (95% CI - 4.9; - 0.6), p = 0.012 and neonates B = - 0.045 (95% CI - 0.07; - 0.02), p = 0.001.
Lung aeration and compliance of the respiratory system are significantly and inversely correlated irrespective of patients' age. A restrictive respiratory failure has the same ultrasound appearance and mechanical characteristics in adults and neonates.
Purpose
A new acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) definition has been recently issued: the so-called Berlin definition (BD) has some characteristics that could make it suitable for pediatrics. ...The European Society for Pediatric Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC) Respiratory Section started a project to evaluate BD validity in early childhood. A secondary aim was reaching a consensus on clinical tools (risk factors list and illustrative radiographs) to help the application of BD.
Methods
This was an international, multicenter, retrospective study enrolling 221 children aged greater than 30 days and less than 18 months; median age 6 (range 2–13) months, admitted to seven European pediatric intensive care units (PICU) with acute lung injury (ALI) or ARDS diagnosed with the earlier definition.
Results
Patients were categorized according to the two definitions, as follows: ALI, 36; ARDS, 185 (for the American–European Consensus Conference (AECC) definition); mild, 36; moderate, 97; severe ARDS, 88 (for BD). Mortality (13.9 % for mild ARDS; 11.3 % for moderate ARDS; 25 % for severe ARDS,
p
= 0.04) and the composite outcome extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)/mortality (13.9 % for mild ARDS; 11.3 % for moderate ARDS; 28.4 % for severe ARDS,
p
< 0.01) were different across the BD classes, whereas they were similar using the previous definition. Mortality HR 2.7 (95 % CI 1.1–7.1) and ECMO/mortality HR 3 (95 % CI 1.1–7.9) were increased only for the severe ARDS class and remained significant after adjustment for confounding factors. PICU stay was not different across severity classes, irrespective of the definition used. There was significant concordance between raters evaluating radiographs ICC 0.6 (95 % CI 0.2–0.8) and risk factors ICC 0.92 (95 % CI 0.8–0.97).
Conclusions
BD validity for children is similar to that already reported in adults and mainly due to the introduction of a “severe ARDS” category. We provided clinical tools to use BD for clinical practice, research, and health services planning in pediatric critical care.
The current COVID-19 outbreak is requiring a tremendous effort not only regarding the diagnostic and therapeutic approach but also in terms of global management of the delivered care. Hospital ...administrations had to provide a prompt response to a rapidly evolving emergency characterized by the necessity of giving access to an enormous number of infected patients, guaranteeing appropriate care to patients in need of other types of treatment, and simultaneously preserving the well-being of healthcare providers. To optimize the diagnostic pathway during the current COVID-19 outbreak, the hospital administration of our tertiary center applied a highly structured framework assigning specific tasks to the different units composing the Department of Imaging. In particular, since the beginning of the pandemic, a mobile CT scanner in a truck was rented and became operative for all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and another CT was assigned for all suspected cases. The success and efficacy of the management applied by our administration is demonstrated by the fact that during the outbreak, the radiological workflow was never interrupted. In fact, despite the national lockdown only a 29.3% decrease of CT scans occurred compared to the previous year. Moreover, none of the healthcare providers of the Department contracted the infection at work. Thus, according to the experience gained in our center, we recommend to all hospital administrations facing the COVID-19 outbreak to promptly adapt their resources, creating precise and safe pathways for their diagnostic units.
BACKGROUND—The clinical profile and arrhythmic outcome of competitive athletes with isolated nonischemic left ventricular (LV) scar as evidenced by contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance remain ...to be elucidated.
METHODS AND RESULTS—We compared 35 athletes (80% men, age14–48 years) with ventricular arrhythmias and isolated LV subepicardial/midmyocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance (group A) with 38 athletes with ventricular arrhythmias and no LGE (group B) and 40 healthy control athletes (group C). A stria LGE pattern with subepicardial/midmyocardial distribution, mostly involving the lateral LV wall, was found in 27 (77%) of group A versus 0 controls (group C; P<0.001), whereas a spotty pattern of LGE localized at the junction of the right ventricle to the septum was respectively observed in 11 (31%) versus 10 (25%; P=0.52). All athletes with stria pattern showed ventricular arrhythmias with a predominant right bundle branch block morphology, 13 of 27 (48%) showed ECG repolarization abnormalities, and 5 of 27 (19%) showed echocardiographic hypokinesis of the lateral LV wall. The majority of athletes with no or spotty LGE pattern had ventricular arrhythmias with a predominant left bundle branch block morphology and no ECG or echocardiographic abnormalities. During a follow-up of 38±25 months, 6 of 27 (22%) athletes with stria pattern experienced malignant arrhythmic events such as appropriate implantable cardiac defibrillator shock (n=4), sustained ventricular tachycardia (n=1), or sudden death (n=1), compared with none of athletes with no or LGE spotty pattern and controls.
CONCLUSIONS—Isolated nonischemic LV LGE with a stria pattern may be associated with life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden death in the athlete. Because of its subepicardial/midmyocardial location, LV scar is often not detected by echocardiography.
Total hip arthroplasty (THA) with metal-on-metal (MoM) bearings have shown problems of biocompatibility linked to metal ion release at the local level causing an adverse reaction to metal debris ...(ARMD) and at a systemic level. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical and radiological outcomes, and metal ion concentrations in the blood and urine of patients who underwent THA with the LIMA Met-Met hip system. Patients with ceramic-on-ceramic (CoC) bearings were included as a control group. In this study, 68 patients were enrolled: 34 with MoM THAs and 34 with CoC THAs. Patients were evaluated clinically (Harris Hip Score, SF-36) and radiologically at a median of 7.4 years after surgery. Whole blood and urinary cobalt and chromium levels were also assessed. Both types of implants were comparable in terms of clinical and functional results. Ion levels were significantly higher in the MoM group compared with CoC group 7 years after surgery. No correlations were found between metal ion levels and patient demographics, functional and radiological outcomes, and prosthesis features. Patient monitoring is thus advised to establish if prosthesis revision is necessary, especially in the case of MoM THA.
Secretory phospholipase A2 is supposed to play a role in acute lung injury but no data are available for pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). It is not clear which enzyme subtypes ...are secreted and what the relationships are between enzyme activity, biophysical and biochemical parameters, and clinical outcomes. We aimed to measure the enzyme and identify its subtypes and to study its biochemical and biophysical effect. The secondary aim was to correlate enzyme activity with clinical outcome.
Bronchoalveolar lavage was performed in 24 infants with ARDS and 14 controls with no lung disease. Samples were assayed for secretory phospholipase A2 and molecules related to its activity and expression. Western blotting and captive bubble surfactometry were also performed. Clinical data were real time downloaded.
Tumor necrosis factor-α (814 (506-2,499) vs. 287 (111-1,315) pg/mL; P = 0.04), enzyme activity (430 (253-600) vs. 149 (61-387) IU/mL; P = 0.01), free fatty acids (4.3 (2.8-8.6) vs. 2 (0.8-4.6) mM; P = 0.026), and minimum surface tension (25.6 ± 6.1 vs. 18 ± 1.8 mN/m; P = 0.006) were higher in ARDS than in controls. Phospholipids are lower in ARDS than in controls (76.5 (54-100) vs. 1,094 (536-2,907) μg/mL; P = 0.0001). Three enzyme subtypes were identified (-IIA, -V, -X), although in lower quantities in controls; another subtype (-IB) was mainly detected in ARDS. Significant correlations exist between enzyme activity, free fatty acids (ρ = 0.823; P < 0.001), and surface tension (ρ = 0.55; P < 0.028). Correlations also exist with intensive care stay (ρ = 0.54; P = 0.001), PRISM-III24 (ρ = 0.79; P< 0.001), duration of ventilation (ρ = 0.53; P = 0.002), and oxygen therapy (ρ = 0.54; P = 0.001).
Secretory phospholipase A2 activity is raised in pediatric ARDS and constituted of four subtypes. Enzyme correlates with some inflammatory mediators, surface tension, and major clinical outcomes. Secretory phospholipase A2 may be a clinically relevant target in pediatric ARDS.
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