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Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) is pleased to offer monthly audio summaries that feature readings of the issue's most recent research abstracts. Audio summaries ensure accessibility of the information harbored in the journal and provide a convenient way to keep up with the latest in the field.
New summaries will be added in conjunction with each issue of PCCM released, so be sure to sign up for new issue alerts and bookmark this page. Please email journals@sccm.org with any feedback or suggestions.
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The December 2023 Pediatric Critical Care Medicine issue is a robust one with audio summaries encompassing a wide variety of articles from many different disciplines. Feature articles examine neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), viral respiratory illness severity and management in the PICU, nutrition support for critically ill patients, and patient and family stressors and experiences in the PICU. There are neurocritical care and cardiac intensive care articles, as well as many articles highlighting clinical investigations. This month's review article highlights vascular reconstruction after ECMO, and the brief report examines parental perceptions and functional status in PICU survivors, both of which are engaging reads.
The November 2023 issue of PCCM is focused entirely on cardiac critical care topics. The feature article describes prevalence and risk factors of children exposed to toxic levels of cardiovascular medications, while clinical investigations cover a breadth of topics from using a psychosocial care model, extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in heart disease, minimizing blood draws, and more. A couple of articles highlight airway management and complications in patients with heart disease. Special articles and a clinical physiology review make this issue quite an interesting read.
The October 2023 audio summary features articles examining pediatric sepsis phenotypes, implementation of an abbreviated neuropsychological evaluation for patients with acquired brain injury, and use of therapeutic plasma exchange and continuous renal replacement therapy in children with dengue-associated acute liver failure and shock syndrome. Clinical investigations evaluated measured body weight and fluid balance as well as association of fluid balance with mortality and health-related quality of life, disorders of consciousness in pediatric severe sepsis and organ failure, measuring energy requirements in traumatic brain injury, parent experience in interhospital transfer of children to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), visitation and parental policies related to PICU admission, and trends in oncology admissions to PICUs. This issue also included a special article with consensus statements regarding continuity strategies for long-stay PICU patients.
The September 2023 issue features articles on pediatric acute respiratory failure, including support modalities and analysis of cytokine measures in children. Other respiratory articles included in this month’s issue examine the role of plateau and driving pressures in pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome, pre-extubation cuffed tube leaks and association with post-extubation laryngeal edema, and hyperoxia exposure and mortality. Other clinical investigations include examining the lactate/albumin ratio in critically ill children, hyperferritinemia in severe dengue infection, rewarming children after drowning-associated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and using clinical instability as a sign of severity of illness, among others.
The July 2023 issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) features articles on clinical variables in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) that may affect neurologic outcomes, unplanned extubations in cardiac intensive care units, and the role of biomarkers in sepsis risk stratification in low- to middle-income countries. The clinical investigations focus on pulmonary physiology, especially pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) and adverse events related to intubation in patients who have received hematopoietic cell transplants. The PCCM trial this month highlights a promising novel hemodialysis device for infants, and the clinical investigations cover the effect of mechanical power on mortality in patients with PARDS, clinician-assigned functional outcome scores in critically ill children, and the use of empirical acyclovir in children with acute encephalitis. The cardiac intensive care articles are both interesting quality improvement initiatives, one focusing on implementation of a sedation-weaning protocol and the other focusing on limiting blood draws for patients. Lastly, a meta-analysis assesses the use of aortic peak flow velocity in predicting fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients.
The June 2023 issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine features articles on implementing primary care physicians for long-stay pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients, diaphragm tonic activity in PICU patients, and an analysis of pulse oximetry and arterial saturation differences by race in pediatric COVID-19 patients. Clinical investigations cover analgesia and sedation at terminal extubation, demographics associated with the first Malawian PICU, implementing a multidisciplinary PICU follow-up clinic, and analyzing anticoagulation-free periods for pediatric patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The online articles examine sepsis definitions in children worldwide, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation in critically ill children, improving efficiency and productivity in multidisciplinary surgical rounds in the pediatric cardiac ICU, and evidence for escalation of antimicrobial regimens in febrile oncology and hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients in the PICU.
The May 2023 issue features a study examining characteristics and outcomes in pediatric patients with COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in U.S. intensive care units. The feature review article is a meta-analysis identifying factors contributing to the common problem of delirium in critically ill children. This PCCM issue is diverse, with studies exploring how to improve daily patient goal setting, long-term quality of life in patients with congenital heart disease, the impact of patient acuity levels on team rounding, prehospital tranexamic acid administration in pediatric trauma patients, the association of prehospital physician presence during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with neurologic outcomes, and more.
This month’s issue features four diverse articles. One explores the interpretation of Von Willebrand factor multimers, concentration, and function in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO); another investigates the prevalence of mental health and emotional disorders among pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an article assessing neurocognitive, psychosocial, and quality-of-life outcomes in pediatric patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children who were admitted to the PICU, and another reviewing social determinants of health in children with sepsis. Clinical investigations explore the epidemiology of unplanned extubations, a machine model to track clinical deterioration in hospitalized patients, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in children with acute myeloid leukemia. Trials and brief reports investigate obtaining assent for PICU research studies, the Cardiohelp ECMO system, and continuous venovenous hemofiltration in neonates with fluid overload.
This month’s issue features diverse articles, including: