Review of delirium in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Delirium is an acute neuropsychiatric syndrome reflecting serious cerebral dysfunction. The characteristic core symptoms of delirium include the inability to direct, focus, sustain, and shift attention; abnormalities of the sleep-wake cycle; impaired consciousness and awareness; disturbance of thought processes; and behavioral dyscontrol. Delirium is particularly prevalent in critically ill and post-operative patients in the intensive care unit, and may result from hypoxia or infection.

The diagnosis and management of delirium in infancy.

Objective: Atypical antipsychotics have been documented to be effective in the management of delirium in adults and older children, but despite considerable need, their use has been less studied in the very young. A retrospective chart review was undertaken to describe the use of atypical antipsychotics in controlling symptoms of delirium in infants and toddlers.

Methods: All psychiatric inpatient consultations performed during a 3 year period were reviewed to identify children <36 months old diagnosed with delirium.

Olanzapine reduces delirium symptoms in the critically ill pediatric patient.

Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by acute disturbances in attention, consciousness, cognitive processing, perception, and the sleep-wake cycle. The few studies investigating treatment of delirium in critically ill children and adolescents have used differing diagnostic criteria, and have not employed control groups or procedures to blind observations. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of olanzapine for the treatment of delirium in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) using methodological procedures to reduce bias and allow greater generalization.

Atypical antipsychotic medications to control symptoms of delirium in children and adolescents.

Background: Atypical antipsychotics have been documented to be effective in the management of delirium in adults, but despite considerable need, their use has been less studied in pediatric patients.

Objective: A retrospective chart review was done to describe the use of atypical antipsychotics in controlling symptoms of delirium in children and adolescents.

Methods: Pharmacy records at Children's Hospital Los Angeles were reviewed to identify patients to whom antipsychotic agents were dispensed over a 24-month period.

Recurrent delirium after surgery for congenital heart disease in an infant.

Objective: The objective of this article is to describe a case of recurrent delirium after cardiac surgery in an infant.

Design: Case report. The institutional review board at Children's Hospital Los Angeles waived the need for informed consent.

Alcohol use in congenital central hypoventilation syndrome.

Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a rare disorder where there is failure of automatic control of breathing. With improved recognition of CCHS, more children are appropriately diagnosed and treated in infancy, allowing survival into adult years. Because most of these children are able to participate in regular school, they are exposed to common adolescent behaviors, such as abusing alcohol and drugs.