Transfusion targets and adverse events in pediatric perioperative acute Anemia.

Study Objective: To evaluate the association between pretransfusion and posttransfusion hemoglobin concentrations and the outcomes of children undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Design: Retrospective review of patient records. We focused on initial postoperative hemoglobin concentrations, which may provide a more useful representation of transfusion adequacy than pretransfusion hemoglobin triggers (the latter often cannot be obtained during acute surgical hemorrhage).

Implementation of a spinal anesthesia and sedation protocol that reliably prolongs infant spinal anesthesia: Case series of 102 infants who received spinal anesthesia for urologic surgery.

Background: The use of spinal anesthesia in infants is seeing resurgence as an alternative to general anesthesia.

Aims: Our primary aims are to describe our institution's experience introducing a spinal anesthesia and sedation protocol for infants undergoing urologic surgery, to describe methods of improving prolonged anesthesia, and to describe the failure rate of spinal anesthesia in these patients. Sedation was provided for some infants with intranasal dexmedetomidine ± fentanyl.

Renal Function Parameters and Serum Sodium Enhance Prediction of Wait-List Outcomes in Pediatric Liver Transplantation.

Background And Aims: Reliance on exception points to prioritize children for liver transplantation (LT) stems from concerns that the Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) score underestimates mortality. Renal dysfunction and serum sodium disturbances are negative prognosticators in adult LT candidates and various pediatric populations, but are not accounted for in PELD. We retrospectively evaluated the effect of these parameters in predicting 90-day wait-list death/deterioration among pediatric patients (<12 years) listed for isolated LT in the United States between February 2002 and June 2018.

Incidence and Epidemiology of Perioperative Transfusion-Related Pulmonary Complications in Pediatric Noncardiac Surgical Patients: A Single-Center, 5-Year Experience.

Background: Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO) are the leading causes of transfusion-related fatalities. While these transfusion-related pulmonary complications (TRPCs) have been well detailed in adults, their burden in pediatric subsets remains poorly defined. We sought to delineate the incidence and epidemiology of pediatric TRPCs after intraoperative blood product transfusion.