Navigating global collaboration: challenges faced by the international network on esophageal atresia.

The International Network on Esophageal Atresia (INoEA) stands as a beacon of collaboration in addressing the complexities of this congenital condition on a global scale. The eleven board members, from various countries (USA, Canada, France, Australia, Italy, Sweden, Germany, and The Netherlands) and backgrounds (pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric surgery, pediatric pulmonology, nursing, and parents) met in a face-to-face symposium in Lille in November 2023, to identify challenges and solutions for improving global collaboration of the network.

Recommendations for Standardizing MRI-based Evaluation of Perianal Fistulizing Disease Activity in Pediatric Crohn's Disease Clinical Trials.

Background: Perianal fistulas and abscesses occur commonly as complications of pediatric Crohn's disease (CD). A validated imaging assessment tool for quantification of perianal disease severity and activity is needed to evaluate treatment response. We aimed to identify magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based measures of perianal fistulizing disease activity and study design features appropriate for pediatric patients.

Pediatric Aerodigestive Medicine: Advancing Collaborative Care for Children With Oropharyngeal Dysphagia.

Objectives: Aerodigestive disorders encompass various pathological conditions affecting the lungs, upper airway, and gastrointestinal tract in children. While advanced care has primarily occurred in specialty centers, many children first present to general pediatric gastroenterologists with aerodigestive symptoms necessitating awareness of these conditions. At the 2021 Annual North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition meeting, the aerodigestive Special Interest Group held a full-day symposium entitled, Pediatric Aerodigestive Medicine: Advancing Collaborative Care of Children with Aerodigestive Disorders.

Problem Partners: How to Deal With a Colleague Who Causes Problems.

One of the least appealing responsibilities of physician leadership is managing situations in which a physician partner is creating problems. Nevertheless, it is one of the most important aspects in maintaining a healthy team dynamic. When the behavior of problem partners goes unchecked these situations often grow to negatively impact others and detract from providing optimal patient care on multiple levels.

Perioperative Safety: Engage, Integrate, Empower, Sustain to Eliminate Patient Safety Events.

Unlabelled: The perioperative environment is one of the most complex areas within a hospital with significant safety risks. Despite a long history of safety-focused work, a recent cluster of patient safety events prompted a renewed comprehensive approach to improve safety processes and transform culture.

Methods: Our team comprehensively approached perioperative safety through integration across traditional silos and a focus on institutional safety culture.

10 Year Analysis of Pediatric Surgery Fellowship Match and Operative Experience: Concerning Trends?

Objective: This paper aims to evaluate the pediatric surgery training pipeline vis-à-vis the pediatric surgery match and operative experience of pediatric surgery fellows.

Summary Of Background Data: Pediatric surgery remains a competitive surgical subspecialty. However, there is concern that operative experience for pediatric surgery fellows is changing.

Slide Tracheoplasty for Repair of Complex Tracheoesophageal Fistulas.

Objectives/hypothesis: Repair of large, recurrent, and complex tracheoesophageal fistulas (TEFs) is challenging and numerous different surgical approaches exist. These various techniques each carry a set of risks and possible complications such as fistula recurrence, tracheal stenosis or pouches, esophageal stenosis, and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. Slide tracheoplasty is a reconstructive technique successfully used in many different airway pathologies, including TEF repair.

Myeloablative Busulfan/Melphalan Consolidation following Induction Chemotherapy for Patients with Newly Diagnosed High-Risk Neuroblastoma: Children's Oncology Group Trial ANBL12P1.

Consolidation using high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is an important component of frontline therapy for children with high-risk neuroblastoma. The optimal preparative regimen is uncertain, although recent data support a role for busulfan/melphalan (BuMel). The Children's Oncology Group (COG) conducted a trial (ANBL12P1) to assess the tolerability and feasibility of BuMel ASCT following a COG induction.

Pediatric surgical oncology: A brief overview of where we have been and the challenges we face.

The evolution of the treatment of pediatric solid tumors has been one of progressive improvements in survival. With the advent of pediatric cooperative groups, a systematic approach has brought integrated multidisciplinary care to childhood cancer patients. Improved medical regimens and advances in the basic understanding and characterization of molecular biology of individual tumors continues to bring new treatment options.

Role of the extent of prophylactic regional lymph node radiotherapy on survival in high-risk neuroblastoma: A report from the COG A3973 study.

Purpose: Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid pediatric malignancy, with poor outcomes in high-risk disease. Standard treatment approaches employ an increasing array of aggressive multimodal therapies, of which local control with surgery and radiotherapy remains a backbone; however, the benefit of broad regional nodal irradiation remains controversial. We analyzed centrally reviewed radiation therapy data from patients enrolled on COG A3973 to evaluate the impact of primary site irradiation and the extent of regional nodal coverage stratified by extent of surgical resection.

Thoracoscopic posterior tracheopexy for tracheomalacia: A minimally invasive technique.

Background: Tracheomalacia is the most common congenital abnormality of the trachea. Posterior tracheopexy to alleviate posterior intrusion contributing to dynamic tracheal collapse has been reported using thoracotomy or median sternotomy. Here we describe the minimally invasive operative technique of thoracoscopic posterior tracheopexy with bronchoscopic guidance.

Infants with esophageal atresia and right aortic arch: Characteristics and outcomes from the Midwest Pediatric Surgery Consortium.

Purpose: Right sided aortic arch (RAA) is a rare anatomic finding in infants with esophageal atresia with or without tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF). In the presence of RAA, significant controversy exists regarding optimal side for thoracotomy in repair of the EA/TEF. The purpose of this study was to characterize the incidence, demographics, surgical approach, and outcomes of patients with RAA and EA/TEF.

Long-Term Follow-Up of Adamantinoma of the Tibia Complicated by Metastases and a Second Unrelated Primary Cancer: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Adamantinoma is a rare, low-grade malignant tumor of the bone which grows slowly and typically occurs in the diaphysis of long bones, particularly in the tibia. Adamantinomas have the potential for local recurrence and may metastasize to the lungs, lymph nodes, or bone. We report a case of a 14-year-old female with a tibial adamantinoma who underwent wide resection with limb salvage and has subsequently been followed up for 18 years.

Pediatric Crohn's Disease.

The incidence of Crohn's disease in the pediatric population is increasing. While pediatric patients with Crohn's disease exhibit many of the characteristics of older patients, there are important differences in the clinical presentation and course of disease that can impact the clinical decisions made during treatment. The majority of children are diagnosed in the early teen years, but subgroups of very early onset and infantile Crohn's present much earlier and have a unique clinical course.

Biomarkers to estimate the probability of complicated appendicitis.

Background: The conventional paradigm that all children with appendicitis require an appendectomy is being challenged by the idea that some patients may be successfully managed non-operatively. The study aimed to determine if matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMPs) are candidate biomarkers for estimating the probability of complicated appendicitis in pediatric patients.

Methods: The study was a single-institution, prospective cohort study.

Surgical treatment of intestinal complications of graft versus host disease in the pediatric population: Case series and review of literature.

Background/purpose: Intestinal complications of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) include hemorrhage and perforation in the short-term, and stricture with bowel obstruction in the long-term. As medical management of severe aGVHD has improved, more patients are surviving even advanced stages of intestinal aGVHD. This review summarizes the available pediatric literature on surgical treatment of complications of intestinal GVHD.

Challenging surgical dogma in the management of proximal esophageal atresia with distal tracheoesophageal fistula: Outcomes from the Midwest Pediatric Surgery Consortium.

Purpose: Perioperative management of infants with esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) is frequently based on surgeon experience and dogma rather than evidence-based guidelines. This study examines whether commonly perceived important aspects of practice affect outcome in a contemporary multi-institutional cohort of patients undergoing primary repair for the most common type of esophageal atresia anomaly, proximal EA with distal TEF.

Methods: The Midwest Pediatric Surgery Consortium conducted a multicenter, retrospective study examining selected outcomes on infants diagnosed with proximal EA with distal TEF who underwent primary repair over a 5-year period (2009-2014), with a minimum 1-year follow up, across 11 centers.

Surgical management and surveillance of pediatric appendiceal carcinoid tumor.

Purpose: Appendiceal carcinoid tumors are rare neuroendocrine neoplasms. The aim of this study was to determine if postoperative oncologic follow-up was necessary for this tumor.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of patients with appendiceal carcinoid 2000-2015.

Development of a multi-institutional clinical research consortium for pediatric surgery.

Background: Multicenter clinical research studies in pediatric surgery have been largely limited to relatively small case-series and retrospective reviews because of the rarity of many of the diseases we treat and difficulty coordinating and executing multi-institutional studies. Creation of a collaborative research network can provide the needed patient population and infrastructure to perform high quality multi-institutional studies.

Methods: In 2013, eleven academic pediatric surgery centers within the United States formed a research consortium to develop and conduct multicenter clinical research projects to advance the practice of pediatric surgery.

Perioperative management and outcomes of esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula.

Background/purpose: Esophageal atresia/tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) is a rare congenital anomaly lacking contemporary data detailing patient demographics, medical/surgical management and outcomes. Substantial variation in the care of infants with EA/TEF may affect both short- and long-term outcomes. The purpose of this study was to characterize the demographics, management strategies and outcomes in a contemporary multi-institutional cohort of infants diagnosed with EA/TEF to identify potential areas for standardization of care.

Impact of Extent of Resection on Local Control and Survival in Patients From the COG A3973 Study With High-Risk Neuroblastoma.

Purpose This analysis of patients in the Children's Oncology Group A3973 study evaluated the impact of extent of primary tumor resection on local progression and survival and assessed concordance between clinical and central imaging review-based assessments of resection extent. Patients and Methods The analytic cohort (n = 220) included patients who had both central surgery review and resection of the primary tumor site. For this analysis, resection categories of < 90% and ≥ 90% were used, with data on resection extent derived from operating surgeons' assessments (all patients), as well as blinded central imaging review of computed tomography scans for a subset of 84 patients; assessment results were compared for concordance.

Quality assessment of lymph node sampling in rhabdomyosarcoma: A surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) program study.

Background: Lymph node sampling is integral in the management of extremity and paratesticular rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). The aim of this study was to determine overall surgical compliance with treatment protocols and impact of nodal sampling outcomes in these tumors.

Methods: A query of the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program (SEER) database was performed from 2003 to 2008 for patients <19years of age with RMS.

Risk Stratification to Decrease Unnecessary Diagnostic Imaging for Acute Appendicitis.

Background: There has been an increase in the use of imaging modalities to diagnose appendicitis despite evidence that can help identify children at especially high or low risk of appendicitis who may not benefit. We hypothesized that the passive diffusion of a standardized care pathway (including diagnostic imaging recommendations) would improve the diagnostic workup of appendicitis by safely decreasing the use of unnecessary imaging when compared with historical controls and that an electronic, real-time decision support tool would decrease unnecessary imaging.

Methods: We used an interrupted time series trial to compare proportions of patients who underwent diagnostic imaging (computed tomography [CT] and ultrasound) between 3 time periods: baseline historical controls, after passive diffusion of a diagnostic workup clinical pathway, and after introduction of an electronic medical record-embedded clinical decision support tool that provides point-of-care imaging recommendations (active intervention).