Comparison of the efficacy and safety of cuffed versus uncuffed endotracheal tubes for infants in the intensive care setting: a pilot, unblinded RCT.

Objective: To study effectiveness and safety of cuffed versus uncuffed endotracheal tubes (ETTs) in small infants in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Design: Pilot RCT.

Setting: Neonatal and paediatric ICUs of children's hospital in Western Australia.

Intraoperative neurophysiology monitoring in scoliosis surgery in children.

Objective: Intraoperative neurophysiology monitoring (INM) is thought to reduce the risk of postoperative neurological deficits in children undergoing scoliosis and spine deformity surgery. INM is being used increasingly despite conflicting opinions, varied results, non-standard alarm criteria and concern regarding cost effectiveness. In this paper we present our experience with INM in scoliosis and spine deformation surgery in children, propose alert criteria and preferred anaesthetics in clinical practice.