Unmasking culprits: novel analysis identifies complement factors as potential therapeutic targets to mitigate inflammation during children's heart surgery.

Background: Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) causes systemic inflammation during pediatric cardiac surgery, which can contribute to post-operative organ dysfunction and prolonged recovery. This study aims to identify key inflammatory mediators related to this clinically significant immunologic response.

Methods: Pediatric patients were enrolled in a single-arm prospective clinical study (NCT05154864) and received standard cardiac operation, CPB and subzero-balance ultrafiltration.

Sanguineous cardiopulmonary bypass prime accelerates the inflammatory response during pediatric cardiac surgery.

Background: The inflammatory response to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in pediatric patients remains an unresolved challenge. Sanguineous CPB prime, composed of allogenic blood products, is one potentially important stimulus. This study aims to identify specific inflammatory mediators active in sanguineous CPB prime and their impact on the inflammatory response at CPB initiation.

High-exchange ULTrafiltration to enhance recovery after paediatric cardiac surgery (ULTRA): study protocol for a Canadian double-blinded randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Surgical repair is the standard of care for most infants and children with congenital heart disease. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is required to facilitate these operations but elicits a systemic inflammatory response, leading to postoperative organ dysfunction, morbidity and prolonged recovery after the surgery. Subzero-balance ultrafiltration (SBUF) has been shown to extract proinflammatory cytokines continuously throughout the CPB exposure.

An Innovative Approach to Determine Programmed Intermittent Epidural Bolus Pump Settings for Labor Analgesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Three settings are required on a programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) pump for labor analgesia: the PIEB next bolus (PIEBnb), PIEB interval (PIEBi), and PIEB volume (PIEBv). The ideal settings for these parameters are still unknown. We hypothesized a mathematical modeling tool, response surface methodology (RSM), could estimate 3 PIEB pump parameters while balancing 3 clinically important patient outcomes simultaneously.