How useful is ultrasound guidance for internal jugular venous access in children?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether US reduces number of puncture attempts, procedure time, and complication rate during IJV access in children.

Methods: A prospective study was performed in children (age ≤18years) admitted to our institution, from September 2013 to July 2014, with indications for central venous access. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria were randomized to the US-guided or control groups.

[Quality of the documents requesting and reporting CT scans: a retrospective study in four Italian hospitals].

A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the quality of CT scan request and report forms in four Italian hospitals in three different Regions. A sample of 800 request forms and corresponding reports in four hospitals were evaluated. Half of the analysed reports involved inpatients while the other half involved outpatients.

[Late-presenting congenital diaphragmatic hernia: a possible cause of sudden respiratory distress in children].

OBJECTIVE: To emphasize that congenital defects of the diaphragm should be considered in the differential diagnosis of sudden onset of respiratory distress in children. MATHOD: Two illustrative cases of children (aged 2 years) with late presenting congenital diaphragmatic hernia who developed sudden respiratory distress and were managed at the University Hospital of Santa Maria are reported. The medical literature was reviewed to identify cases reports and other articles related to late presenting congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Midline nasal mass in infancy: a nasal glioma case report.

Congenital midline nasal masses are rare anomalies that occur in about one in 20,000-40,000 live births. The most common are dermoid/epidermoid tumors, nasal cerebral heterotopias (nasal gliomas), and nasal encephaloceles; some have an actual or potential central nervous system connection. Nasal gliomas are CNS masses of neurogenic origin which have lost their intracranial connections and present as an obvious external or intranasal mass at birth without associated surgical symptoms.

Massive lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage caused by CMV disease as a presentation of HIV in an infant.

The gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in children are related to opportunistic infections like cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV disease of the GI tract is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients: it typically produces mucosal ulcerations that can result in pain, bleeding, diarrhea, and GI perforation, often around the cecum. Preoperative diagnosis may be difficult, plain films and barium enema are often non-specific, and endoscopic evaluation is impossible when there is massive bleeding.