Percutaneously Inserted Central Catheter-Related Pleural Effusion in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A 5-Year Review (2008-2012).

Background: Although peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) provide vascular access in newborns who require parenteral nutrition and medications, they can be associated with complications that lead to significant morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To describe the characteristics of pleural effusion (PLE) associated with PICC use in a large level III neonatal intensive care unit.

Design/methods: A retrospective review of PICC-related PLE in newborns was conducted over a 5-year period, from 2008-2012.

Use of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) via scalp veins in neonates.

Objective: The objective of this study is to describe the use and complications of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) via scalp veins in neonates.

Methods: A retrospective review of neonates who had PICCs inserted, between January 2010 and June 2013, in the NICU at Children's and Women's Health Center of British Columbia.

Results: During the study period, 689 PICCs were inserted over a total of 46 728 NICU patient days.

Optoacoustic monitoring of cerebral venous blood oxygenation though intact scalp in large animals.

Monitoring (currently invasive) of cerebral venous blood oxygenation is a key to avoiding hypoxia-induced brain injury resulting in death or severe disability. Noninvasive, optoacoustic monitoring of cerebral venous blood oxygenation can potentially replace existing invasive methods. To the best of our knowledge, we report for the first time noninvasive monitoring of cerebral venous blood oxygenation through intact scalp that was validated with invasive, "gold standard" measurements.

Skull bone infarctive crisis and deep vein thrombosis in homozygous sickle cell disease- case report and review of the literature.

Here we describe an 8-year old male child with homozygous sickle cell disease who presented with left parietal skull bone infarction and, during his stay in hospital, developed a right femoral deep vein thrombosis (DVT), both uncommon complications of the disease. He initially presented with severe headache and generalised tenderness of the calvarium, which did not respond to simple analgesics. Scalp swelling in and around the left frontal (including left orbit) and parietal regions developed 24 h after presentation.

Midline catheter use in the intensive care nursery.

Purpose: To describe the use of midline catheters in a Level IV, 48-bed NICU over a four-and-a-half-year period.

Design: Nonrandomized prospective review of data obtained for quality assurance monitoring.

Sample: 1,130 catheters inserted in 858 patients ranging in age at insertion from 1 to 249 days, 360-8,000 gm in weight, and 23-42 weeks gestational age at birth.

Air emboli in the intracranial venous sinuses of neonates.

Air bubbles in the intracranial venous sinuses are known as a consequence to different causes including trauma, infection, and administration of intravenous contrast. Most of the previous reports demonstrated such cases in adults, with subsequent complications. We are presenting two premature babies who developed asymptomatic air bubbles in the right cavernous and left transverse sinuses, introduced accidentally upon cannulation of scalp veins.

[Intracranial epidural abscess in a newborn secondary to skin catheter].

Intracranial epidural abscesses are uncommon lesions, being more frequents in older children and adults. They commonly arise as a result of direct extension of a preexisting infection and rarely present with focal deficit. We present a case of a 11-days old preterm infant who developed an intracranial epidural abscess as a result of an infected scalp vein catheter.

Differences in pressures of the popliteal, long saphenous, and dorsal foot veins.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among pressures obtained simultaneously in the popliteal, long saphenous, and dorsal foot veins.

Method: Eight limbs were studied. One limb had an isolated popliteal vein reflux, and two had moderate long saphenous vein incompetence.

Traumatic bilateral jugular vein thrombosis: case report and review of the literature.

Objective And Importance: Thrombosis of the internal jugular vein (IJV) with associated elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) is a rare complication of central venous catheterization but has not been reported as a result of blunt trauma.

Clinical Presentation: An 18-year-old male patient was observed to be obtunded after an assault. The initial examination was remarkable for somnolence, bruising of the anterior neck, and diffuse, edematous swelling of the face and scalp.

Facial Hair on a Woman: Diagnosing and Treating a Pathological Twist on a Common Problem.

A 46-year-old woman who had had occasional coarse, dark hairs on her chin and chest since she was 17 years old presented with rapidly progressive hirsutism and new onset of virilization--(eg, for the first time in her life, she had coarse, dark hair on her back and balding in the temporal and occipital areas of her scalp). A thorough evaluation, including laboratory tests, several imaging studies, and ovarian and adrenal vein catheterization, revealed a small ovarian hilus cell tumor that was successfully removed by a laparoscopic approach. During the 30 months after the testosterone-producing ovarian tumor had been diagnosed and the woman's ovary had been removed, her hirsutism progressed no further, hair began to grow back in the temporal and occipital areas of her scalp, and she began to lose some excess weight.