Infant in extremis: respiratory failure secondary to lower airway infantile hemangioma.

Background: Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are vascular tumors that commonly affect infants and usually regress spontaneously or can be easily treated as an outpatient with topical beta-blockers. However, IHs that present in the airway may cause life-threatening symptoms due to airway obstruction or risk of bleeding. Here we present the first documented case of an infant with rapid deterioration and acute respiratory failure secondary to a lower airway hemangioma.

Initial emergency department vital signs may predict PICU admission in pediatric patients presenting with asthma exacerbation.

Objective: Severe asthma exacerbations account for a large share of asthma morbidity, mortality, and costs. Here, we aim to identify early predictive factors associated with pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission.

Methods: We performed a retrospective observational study of 5,185 emergency department (ED) encounters at a large children's hospital, including 86 (1.