In-Office Tympanostomy Tube Placement in Children Using Iontophoresis and Automated Tube Delivery.

Objectives/hypothesis: Evaluate technical success, tolerability, and safety of lidocaine iontophoresis and tympanostomy tube placement for children in an office setting.

Study Design: Prospective individual cohort study.

Methods: This prospective multicenter study evaluated in-office tube placement in children ages 6 months through 12 years of age.

Management of difficult airway patients and the use of a difficult airway registry at a tertiary care pediatric hospital.

Background: Appropriate recognition and management of the pediatric difficult airway is essential. Two patient deaths in a 2-year period involving children with a known difficult airway led to the formation of the institution's multidisciplinary Difficult Airway Committee.

Methods: Patients with a suspected difficult airway or a known difficult airway are entered into a registry of difficult airway patients.

The rising incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pediatric neck abscesses.

Objectives: To examine the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pediatric neck abscesses and compare these with abscesses caused by methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and other organisms (non-SA).

Study Design: Retrospective review of 245 children who underwent incision and drainage of neck abscesses from January 1, 2001, to December 1, 2005.

Results: The yearly incidence of MRSA increased from 9 percent to 40 percent during the study period.

Congenital midline cervical cleft: a practical approach to Z-plasty closure.

A congenital midline cervical cleft (CMCC) is a rare developmental abnormality with several common features of variable severity: a midline defect of anterior neck skin, a superior nipple-like skin projection, and a subcutaneous fibrous cord. Congenital midline cervical clefts have important functional and cosmetic implications as cicatrical contracture with subsequent deformity may result without early surgical intervention. Treatment involves excision of all abnormal tissue, and reconstruction with Z-plasty techniques is favored because linear closure results in hypertrophic scarring and recurrent contracture.