The records of all admissions to a 6-bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) over a period of 6 years were reviewed. The age, diagnosis, clinical service provided, duration of stay and outcome were recorded. Of the 3025 children admitted, 2092 (69.2%) were males. Neonates constituted 13.1% (400) and infants 57.1% (1727) of total admissions. The duration of stay ranged from 6 hours to 46 days, and 61 patients stayed for longer than 13 days (long-stay patients). The most common cause for admission was septicemia, seen in 459 patients (14.8%); 418 (13.8%) children had congenital heart disease, 407 (13.5%) lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and 261 (8.6%) meningitis. The most common conditions necessitating long-stay in the PICU were meningitis (20%), Landry-Guillain-Barre syndrome (16.6%), acute renal failure (20%), and septicemia (16.6%). There were 721 deaths giving a mortality of 23.5%. Of these 134 (18.6%) were due to septicemia, 103 (14.2%) due to congenital heart disease, 77 (10.6%) due to meningitis and 55 (7.6%) due to LRTI. The highest case fatality rate was seen with encephalitis (52.6%), followed by hepatic coma (51.3%), malignancies (43.2%), septicemia (29.1%) and meningitis (29.5%). The mortality was lower (9.8%) in long-stay patients than in short-stay patients (24.6%). There was gradual increase in proportion of cases requiring interventions including artificial ventilation (1% to 35%), peritoneal dialysis (1.5% to 11%), insertion of central venous pressure lines (0 to 10%), over the last 6 years.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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Oligoarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and tubercular arthritis in children can present in a similar way as monoarthritis. Patients with musculoskeletal tuberculosis may not have the classical constitutional symptoms. Moreover, microbiological evidence of infection may not be found in all patients. In such cases, features on imaging aid in the diagnosis. We present a case of an 8-year-old girl who had inflammation in the right knee. Investigations showed negative results for autoimmune markers. Synovial fluid examination did not reveal any evidence of tuberculosis. However, magnetic resonance imaging of the knee joint showed inflammation around the distal growth plate of the femur, away from the knee joint. The suspicion of tuberculosis was strengthened by the presence of left hilar lymphadenopathy on chest X-ray and positive result on tuberculin skin sensitivity test. The patient showed remarkable clinical and radiological recovery with antitubercular therapy. Peculiar features on imaging may help in differentiating infections from inflammatory arthritides, even in the absence of microbiological evidence of infection.

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