Failure to Rescue Pediatric Recipients of Living Donor Liver Transplantation: A Single-Center Study of Technical Complications in 500 Primary Grafts.

Background: The concept of failure to rescue (FTR) has been used to evaluate the quality of care in several surgical specialties but has not been well-studied after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in children.

Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed 500 pediatric LDLT performed at a single center between 1993 and 2022. The recipient outcomes were assessed by means of patient and graft survival rates, retransplantation rates, and arterial/portal/biliary complication rates.

Sevoflurane preconditioning in living liver donation is associated with better initial graft function after pediatric transplantation: a retrospective study.

Introduction: Initial allograft function determines the patient's immediate prognosis in pediatric liver transplantation. Ischemia-reperfusion injuries play a role in initial poor graft function (IPGF). In animal studies, preconditioning with inhaled anesthetic agents has demonstrated a protective effect on the liver.

Implementing living-donor pediatric liver transplantation in Southern Vietnam: 15-year results and perspectives.

Background: ND2 in Ho Chi Minh City is currently the only public center that performs PLT in Southern Vietnam. In 2005, the first PLT was successfully performed, with support from Belgian experts. This study reviews the implementation of PLT at our center and evaluates the results and challenges.

Regional oxygen saturation measured by two different oximetry monitors in infants and children undergoing living donor liver transplantation with bilirubin measurements: A prospective observational study.

Background: Tissue oximetry devices use wavelengths in the 680-870 nm range to separate between oxygenated/deoxygenated hemoglobin. Conjugated bilirubin has an absorption peak at 730 nm.

Aims: We hypothesized that ForeSight Elite using 5 wavelengths reduces interference from bilirubin and shows higher regional tissue oxygen saturation (rSO ) than INVOS 5100C incorporating 2 wavelengths.

Esophageal Trachea, a Unique Foregut Malformation Requiring Multistage Surgical Reconstruction: Case Report.

Abnormal connections between the esophagus and low respiratory tract can result from embryological defects in foregut development. Beyond well-known malformations, including tracheo-esophageal fistula and laryngo-tracheo-esophageal cleft, rarer anomalies have also been reported, including communicating bronchopulmonary foregut malformations and tracheal atresia. Herein, we describe a case of what we have called "esophageal trachea," which, to our knowledge, has yet to be reported.

Novel insights into the assessment of risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in decompensated cirrhotic children.

Objectives: Cirrhotic children wait-listed for liver transplant are prone to bleeding from gastrointestinal varices. Grade 2-3 esophageal varices, red signs, and gastric varices are well-known risk factors. However, the involvement of hemostatic factors remains controversial because of the rebalanced state of coagulation during cirrhosis.

Lung Middle Lobe Laceration Needing Lobectomy as Complication of Nuss Bar Removal.

Minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of pectus excavatum as described by Nuss has been used from 1987. The bar initially introduced blindly is now introduced under thoracoscopic control to increase safety of the procedure. It is usually removed two to three years after its insertion in a one-day procedure.

Liver and systemic hemodynamics in children with cirrhosis: Impact on the surgical management in pediatric living donor liver transplantation.

Cirrhosis in adults is associated with modifications of systemic and liver hemodynamics, whereas little is known about the pediatric population. The aim of this work was to investigate whether alterations of hepatic and systemic hemodynamics were correlated with cirrhosis severity in children. The impact of hemodynamic findings on surgical management in pediatric living donor liver transplantation (LT) was evaluated.

Evaluation of the Explorer Endoscopy Mask(©) for esogastroduodenoscopy in children: a retrospective study of 173 cases.

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability and safety of the Explorer Endoscopy Mask(®) (EM) as an alternative to endotracheal intubation in children undergoing elective esogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) under general anesthesia (GA).

Methods: This study was a retrospective observational study. The study was undertaken at the pediatric digestive endoscopy suite in the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.

Pressure-support ventilation in a child with merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy under sevoflurane anesthesia.

Merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy (MD-CMD) is the most common and severe form of congenital muscular dystrophy and is characterized by progressive severe hypotonia due to the absence of the merosin chain around muscle fibers. The main anesthetic concerns include a possible association with malignant hyperthermia, the risk of anesthesia-induced rhabdomyolysis, a difficult airway and postoperative respiratory failure. We report the case of an uneventful general anesthesia (GA) in a two-year-old boy with MD-CMD for the placement of an implantable venous access system.

Guidelines on the use of ultrasound guidance for vascular access.

Insertion of vascular access is a common procedure with potential for iatrogenic events, some of which can be serious. The spread of ultrasound scanners in operating rooms, intensive care units and emergency departments has made ultrasound-guided catheterisation possible. The first guidelines were published a decade ago but are not always followed in France.

Living Donor Liver Transplantation in Children: Surgical and Immunological Results in 250 Recipients at Université Catholique de Louvain.

Objectives: To evaluate the outcome of pediatric living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) regarding portal vein (PV) reconstruction, ABO compatibility, and impact of maternal donation on graft acceptance.

Background: LDLT and ABO-mismatched transplantation constitute feasible options to alleviate organ shortage in children. Vascular complications of portal hypoplasia in biliary atresia (BA) and acute rejection (AR) are still major concerns in this field.

Clinical guidelines for the practice of peripheral nerve blocks in the adult.

These guidelines, made by BARA, are, like the "Safety First Guidelines" of the SARB, clinical recomendations for a good and safe practice when performing peripheral nerve blocks (PNB). These recommendations were made according to the most recent literature and experts opinion and are therefore prone to changes due to evolution of literature. The guidelines deal with "Informed Consent", preoperative visit, monitoring, equipment and the PNB procedure itself regardless of using ultrasound or neurostimultion or both.

Belgian recommendations on perioperative maintenance fluid management of surgical pediatric population.

The European recommendations on perioperative maintenance fluids in children have recently been adapted from hypotonic to isotonic electrolyte solutions with lower glucose concentrations. In Belgium, however, the commercially approved solutions do not match with these recommendations and there is neither consensus nor mandate about the composition and volume of perioperative maintenance fluids in children undergoing surgery despite the continuing controversy in literature. This paper highlights the significant challenges and shortcomings while prescribing fluid therapy for pediatric surgical patients in Belgium.

[Caudal block and light sevoflurane mask anesthesia in high-risk infants: an audit of 98 cases].

Objective: In order to reduce the risk of postoperative apnoea, awake spinal anaesthesia or awake caudal anaesthesia are recommended for hernia surgery in newborn babies and former premature infants aged less than 60 weeks of amenorrhoea. However, additional sedation is sometimes necessary. Our working hypothesis was that a general anaesthesia with a face mask (sevoflurane) with no opiates nor neuromuscular blocking agents, maintaining the infant's spontaneous breathing and combined with a caudal anaesthesia, could provide a safe and effective alternative.

Vascular access in the neonate.

Up to recently, inserting venous or arterial 'lines' in the neonate was essentially based on clinical skill and experience. The recent advent of portable ultrasound (US) machines with paediatric probes has resulted in the development of new approaches that, if correctly learned and used, should allow quicker and safer vascular access in this population. Both classic and new techniques are reviewed on the basis of literature and authors' experience.

Ultrasound-guided proximal and distal sciatic nerve blocks in children.

Study Objective: To present the use of ultrasonography for the performance of proximal subgluteal and distal sciatic nerve blocks in children.

Design: Prospective descriptive study.

Setting: University hospital.

Ultrasound-guided subclavian vein cannulation in infants and children: a novel approach.

Background: Central venous cannulation in infants remains challenging even for experienced paediatric anaesthesiologists. Ultrasound (US)-guidance techniques are proven to be safer for internal jugular vein catheterization. But the subclavian vein (SCV) is often the preferred site for long-term central venous catheterization in children.

Nasal foreign bodies in children: a possible pitfall for the anesthesiologist.

Based on a recent surprising case in our institution, we analyze the possible dislodgment of an unknown foreign body in the nose during nasotracheal intubation in children. Nasal foreign bodies made of inert material can remain unnoticed for a long period of time. In addition to inserting a close-fitting suction catheter into the TT during its passage through the nasopharynx, we now suggest performing a pharyngoscopy when intubation is completed.