Importance of parental involvement in paediatric palliative care in Hong Kong: qualitative case study.

Objective: To compare and contrast the perceived care needs of children with life-limiting conditions (CLLC) from the perspectives of the children, parents and healthcare providers.

Design: A qualitative case study method using semistructured interviews was employed with a within-case and across-case analysis. Themes and subthemes emerging from the cases were compared and contrasted in the across-case analysis to explore the similarities and variations in participant perceptions.

Spinal muscular atrophy: Surviving respiratory failure, intensive care and pursuing creatively fulfilled life.

Introduction: Spinal muscular atrophy is a congenital condition associated with mutations in the SMN1 gene. Patients have normal intellectual development, but the natural history is progressive respiratory failure resulting in premature death.

Case: Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 in early primary school, the wheelchair-bound girl developed severe pneumonia on one occasion, when she became critically ill and was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit with multiorgan dysfunction, requiring mechanical ventilation and high inotropic support.

3D Printing of a BAHA Protective Cap.

Mechanical feedback is one of the most common difficulties encountered when fitting hearing aids for toddlers and young children. We described the use of 3D printing to tailor a protective cap for a toddler with bilateral microtia/canal atresia to facilitate bone-anchoring hearing aid use.

Minimally invasive chest drain insertion in children.

A minimally invasive technique of chest drain insertion using the Mini Step bladeless trocar is described. Thirty-one chest drain insertions were performed with this technique between January 2007 and December 2009. It is a safe, efficient, fast, and easily acquired means of chest drain insertion in children, which has a high success rate and minimal morbidity.