Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:There is little consensus regarding the use of postoperative antibiotics in the management of perforated appendicitis in children. Patients are commonly discharged with oral antibiotics after a course of intravenous antibiotics; however, recent literature suggests that patients can be safely discharged without any oral antibiotics. To further evaluate this protocol, we conducted a multicenter retrospective preimplementation/postimplementation study comparing rates of abscess formation and rehospitalization between patients discharged with and without oral antibiotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:We reviewed the records of all pediatric patients who underwent appendectomies for perforated appendicitis at NYU Tisch Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, and Hackensack University Medical Center from January 2014 to June 2019. Data pertaining to patient demographics, hospital course, intraoperative appearance of the appendix, antibiotic treatment, abscess formation, and rehospitalization were collected. RESULTS:A total of 253 patients were included: 162 received oral antibiotics and 91 did not. The median length of antibiotic treatment (oral and intravenous) was 11 (10-14) d for patients on oral antibiotics and 5 (3-6) d for patients without oral antibiotics (P < 0.01). The median leukocyte count at discharge was 9.5 (7.4-10.9) and 8.1 (6.8-10.4) for these groups, respectively (P = 0.02). Postoperative abscesses occurred in 22% of patients receiving oral antibiotics and 15% of patients on no antibiotics (P = 0.25). Rates of rehospitalization for these groups were 10% and 11%, respectively (P = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS:Children who have undergone appendectomy for perforated appendicitis can be safely discharged without oral antibiotics on meeting clinical discharge criteria and white blood cell count normalization.

Introduction: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) in children carries a mortality rate of 40% to 60%. Definitive treatment for ACS traditionally involves decompressive laparotomy. Although percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) is an accepted therapy for neonates with intestinal perforation, its adoption for ACS remains low, due to uncertainty concerning its efficacy and concerns about complications. We explored whether PCD safely and successfully reversed ACS physiology in a cohort of children with intra-abdominal fluid.
Method(s): We reviewed records of all children undergoing PCD for ACS from 2014 to 2018 at a single institution. Bedside sonogram-guided PCD was performed by the surgical service using the Seldinger technique, with catheters removed on resolution of ACS physiology and fluid output of <10 mL/d. Clinical variables were explored using descriptive statistics and reported as median with interquartile range (IQR). Physiologic improvements over 24 hours were compared using paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.
Result(s): A total of 11 infants with a median age of 11 days (IQR 4 to 273 days) and weight of 4.2 kg (IQR 2.3 to 9.2 kg) underwent PCD for ACS secondary to ascites (n = 6), hemoperitoneum (n = 4), and pneumoperitoneum with ascites (n = 1). Catheters remained in place for a median of 8 days (IQR 5 to 9 days), with a median of 359 mL of fluid (IQR 165 to 1,588 mL) drained in the first 24 hours. Percutaneous catheter drainage resulted in significant physiologic improvement across multiple variables (Table). No catheter-related complications occurred, with only 1 patient requiring subsequent laparotomy.
Conclusion(s): Percutaneous catheter drainage is efficacious in reversing ACS physiology in children with intra-abdominal fluid, and should be considered a safe intervention that can obviate decompressive laparotomy. [Figure presented]
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PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to reduce radiation exposure during pediatric central venous line (CVL) placement by implementing a radiation safety process including a radiation safety briefing and a job-instruction model with a preradiation time-out. METHODS:We reviewed records of all patients under 21 who underwent CVL placement in the operating room covering 22 months before the intervention through 10 months after 2013-2016. The intervention consisted of a radiation safety briefing by the surgeon to the intraoperative staff before each case and a radiation safety time-out. We measured and analyzed the dose area product (DAP), total radiation time pre- and postintervention, and the use of postprocedural chest radiograph. RESULTS:, P < 0.001) and a 73% decrease in the median radiation time (28 vs 7.6 s, P < 0.001). Additionally, there was a significant reduction in use of confirmatory CXR (95% vs 15%, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:A preoperative radiation safety briefing and a radiation safety time-out supported by a job-instruction model were effective in significantly lowering the absorbed doses of radiation in children undergoing CVL insertion. TYPE OF STUDY/METHODS:Case-control study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE/METHODS:Level III.

BACKGROUND: This study provides important updates to the epidemiology of pediatric trauma in the United States. METHODS: Age-specific epidemiologic analysis of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's Nationwide Inpatient Sample, representing 2.4 million pediatric traumatic injury discharges in the US from 2000 to 2011. We present yearly data with overlying loess smoothing lines, proportions of common injuries and surgical procedures, and survey-adjusted logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: From 2000 to 2011 there was a 21.7% decline in US pediatric trauma injury inpatient discharges from 273.2 to 213.7 admissions per 100,000. Inpatient case-fatality decreased 5.5% from 1.26% (95% CI 1.05-1.47) to 1.19% (95% CI 1.01-1.38). Severe injuries accounted for 26.5% (se=0.11) of all discharges in 2000 increasing to 31.3% (se=0.13) in 2011. The most common injury mechanism across all age groups was motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), followed by assaults (15-19years), sports (10-14), falls (5-9) and burns (<5). The total injury-related, inflation-adjusted cost was $21.7 billion, increasing 56% during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: The overall rate of inpatient pediatric injury discharges across the United States has been declining. While injury severity is increasing in hospitalized patients, case-fatality rates are decreasing. MVCs remain a common source of all pediatric trauma. LEVELS OF EVIDENCE: Level III.

There is increasing use of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for treatment of pediatric thromboembolic disease as it has been shown to be safe and effective. It has several advantages over unfractionated heparin, such as reduced need for monitoring, easier route of administration, decreased risk of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, and lack of drug-drug interactions. Nevertheless, LMWH still poses a bleeding risk as with any anticoagulant therapy. We present the case of a 4-year-old boy who was placed on LMWH for a catheter-related deep venous thrombosis in the setting of intractable seizures and subsequently developed a small bowel obstruction secondary to a suspected intussusception. He underwent exploratory laparotomy and was found to have an intramural bowel hematoma. Prior to this bleed, the patient had been monitored daily, and his anti-Xa levels were found to be in the therapeutic range. This case highlights the need for a high index of suspicion for spontaneous bleeding even in the setting of therapeutic anti-Xa levels.

PURPOSE: Documenting surgical complications is limited by multiple barriers and is not fostered in the electronic health record. Tracking complications is essential for quality improvement (QI) and required for board certification. Current registry platforms do not facilitate meaningful complication reporting. We developed a novel web application that improves accuracy and reduces barriers to documenting complications. METHODS: We deployed a custom web application that allows pediatric surgeons to maintain case logs. The program includes a module for entering complication data in real time. Reminders to enter outcome data occur at key postoperative intervals to optimize recall of events. Between October 1, 2014, and March 31, 2015, frequencies of surgical complications captured by the existing hospital reporting system were compared with data aggregated by our application. RESULTS: 780 cases were captured by the web application, compared with 276 cases registered by the hospital system. We observed an increase in the capture of major complications when compared to the hospital dataset (14 events vs. 4 events). CONCLUSIONS: This web application improved real-time reporting of surgical complications, exceeding the accuracy of administrative datasets. Custom informatics solutions may help reduce barriers to self-reporting of adverse events and improve the data that presently inform pediatric surgical QI. TYPE OF STUDY: Diagnostic study/Retrospective study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I

Anorectal malformations (ARMs) commonly co-occur with other congenital anomalies, particularly VACTERL (vertebral, anorectal, cardiac, tracheal, esophageal, renal, limb, and duodenal) associations. However, this collection of associations is not comprehensive, and other concurrent anomalies may exist that can be missed during the standard work-up of patients with ARMs. We present a rare case of a neonate with a low ARM with concurrent jejuno-ileal atresia that was diagnosed after the correction of the ARM when the patient developed segmental volvulus. This case illustrates the importance of having a high index of suspicion when deviation from a classic presentation occurs.

Appendicitis remains the most common cause for emergency abdominal surgery in children. Immediate appendectomy in complicated, perforated appendicitis can be hazardous and nonoperative therapy has been gaining use as an initial therapy in children. Previous studies have reported failure rates in nonoperative therapy in such cases ranging from 10% to 41%. Factors leading to treatment failures have been studied with various and disparate results. We reviewed our institutional experience in treated complicated appendicitis, with focus on those initially managed nonoperatively. METHODS: Records of all children admitted with the diagnosis of perforated appendicitis to NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital Center from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2013 were reviewed. The diagnosis was made with ultrasound and/or computed tomography scan. Those with abscesses amenable to drainage underwent aspiration and drain placement by an interventional radiologist. Broad spectrum intravenous (IV) antibiotics were given until the patient became afebrile, pain free and tolerating a regular diet. Oral antibiotics were continued for an additional week and interval appendectomy was done eight weeks later. The primary outcome measure was treatment response with failure defined as those who did not improve or required readmission for additional IV antibiotics and/or early appendectomy. Multiple patient and treatment related variables, including those previously reported as predicting failure in nonoperative therapy, were studied. Continuous variables were reported as means +/- standard error and compared using 2-tailed unpaired t tests; nonparametric variables were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U tests. Categorical variables were reported as medians +/- interquartile ranges and compared using Chi-square testing. Statistical significance was accepted for p<.05. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients were identified as undergoing initial nonoperative therapy. Fifty-two (81%) were categorized as treatment successes being treated nonoperatively and 12 (19%) were failures. Variables showing no significance in predicting treatment failures included duration of symptoms, presence of appendicolith, presence of phlegmon, presence of abscess, initial white blood cell count, and SIRS (Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) positive. The variables that predicted failure of nonoperative therapy vs. successes were presence of bandemia (75% vs. 40%, p=0.052) and small bowel obstruction on imaging (42% vs. 15%, p=0.052) and presence of bandemia >/=15% which was highly predictive of failure (67% vs. 4%, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Predicting which patients with complicated perforated appendicitis will respond well to nonoperative therapy may allow us to more effectively treat patients with complicated perforated appendicitis. In our study the presence of small bowel obstruction and bandemia, especially >/=15% correlated with treatment failure; this suggests that these select patients may need a modified treatment strategy.