Implementing an Oral Health Educator Contributes to Reduced MBI-CLABSI Rates for Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients.

Background: Mucosal barrier injury central line-associated bloodstream infections (MBI-CLABSIs) remain a challenge among the pediatric cancer population. These infections commonly occur by oral or gastrointestinal (GI) bacteria translocating through impaired gut or oral mucosa. Although strategies to prevent gut MBI-CLABSIs are well characterized, oral pathogen prevention strategies are lacking.

Ethnic-specific predictors of neurotoxicity among patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia after high-dose methotrexate.

Background: High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX; 5000 mg/m ) is an important component of curative therapy in many treatment regimens for high-risk pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, methotrexate therapy can result in dose-limiting neurotoxicity, which may disproportionately affect Latino children. This study evaluated risk factors for neurotoxicity after HD-MTX in an ethnically diverse population of patients with ALL.

Ripple mapping: A precise tool for atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia ablation.

Introduction: Ablation for atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) classically utilizes evaluation of signal morphology within the anatomic region of the slow pathway (SP), which involves subjectivity. Ripple mapping (RM; CARTO-3 Biosense Webster Inc) displays each electrogram at its three-dimensional coordinate as a bar changing in length according to its voltage-time relationship. This allows prolonged, low-amplitude signals to be displayed in their entirety, helping identify propagation in low-voltage areas.

Novel risk factors for glucarpidase use in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Hispanic ethnicity, age, and the ABCC4 gene.

Background: Carboxypeptidase G (CPDG ; glucarpidase) is a rescue drug for patients at risk for kidney injury from high-dose methotrexate (MTX). As there are no strategies for predicting patients who will require CDPG , we evaluated the role of demographic, clinical, and genetic factors for CPDG use.

Procedure: Cases who received CPDG and controls who did not were identified by chart review of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients who received MTX doses between 1000 and 5000 mg/m between 2010 and 2017.