The appropriate pain management in neonates and children is lacking. Factors that prevent the execution of proper pain relief vary from center to center. We studied the factors responsible for it in a surgical unit. We conducted a survey at a tertiary-level institute among the resident doctors and nursing staff by means of an informal questionnaire analyzing their basic knowledge. The questions pertained mainly to pain assessment, analgesic usage, role of opioids, and formal training, and the responses so obtained were analyzed under these four headings. Seventy-three percent (22/30) of the residents and 74% (26/35) of the nursing staff knew about pain assessment scoring system in pediatric patients. However, assessment of pain in emergency cases was always done by only 6.6% of the residents. Effect of analgesia on severity of pain was never recorded by 33% (10/30) of the residents. Eighty-six percent (26/30) of the residents and 91% (32/35) of the nursing staff had adequate knowledge about analgesic dosage and interval for routine use. Ten of the 30 (33%) residents believed that analgesic administration in an acute abdomen, before definitive diagnosis, will always mask the symptoms. During a minor procedure, 56% (17/30) of the residents always used analgesia. Only 3.3% (1/30) of residents and 2.8% (1/35) of the nursing staff had received a structured training for pain management. Although, 93% (28/30) of the residents claimed to know about the safety of use of opioids, only 46% (14/30) used them routinely as analgesics. Pain management in surgical neonates and children is often ignored. Lack of formal training, inadequate knowledge, and standard protocols are the barriers in our setup, which may in turn be due to overwhelming attention given to the surgical condition.
Although Meckel's diverticulum is the most common vitellointestinal duct (VID) anomaly, patent vitellointestinal duct (PVID) is the most common symptomatic embryological defect. Patient may present with the anomaly itself or due to complications like intestinal obstruction secondary to volvulus, intussusception or adhesions. Prolapse occurs if the diverticulum is wide-mouthed enough to allow bowel to come out or due to increased intra-abdominal pressure like cry or cough. Bowel prolapse through PVID is rare and double prolapse of proximal as well as distal loop in a newborn is extremely rare. Omphalocele with prolapsing bowel through PVID as found in our index case is even rarer in literature. The pediatric surgeon should be familiar with these varied manifestations in the newborn because the prolapsed bowel can progress to gangrene and complications if not identified and operated upon early.
Implantable venous access devices are routinely used, but they are not without complications. A 4-year-old male child with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was planned for chemotherapy. Chemo port was accessed through the right internal jugular vein. Check X-ray was done, which showed the correct placement of the catheter. Two months after chemo port insertion when the patient underwent chemotherapy, he developed a fever and he was started on intravenous antibiotics. On the next two admissions, the patient had a fever with chamber site oedema for which culture was done, which revealed Pseudomonas and Candida, which responded to antibiotic and antifungal therapies. In the successive admission, the patient had immediate local oedema on injecting chemotherapy. Exploration was done, which revealed chamber base perforation. It is an infrequent complication and has been reported in only three studies.
Isolated ileal heterotopic pancreatic tissue as a lead point of intussusception in children is extremely rare. We report a 6-month-old female with ileoileal intussusception and a 4-year-old female with ileocolic intussusception both associated with gangrene. A review of literature suggests a higher prevalence of gangrene probably secondary to the pancreatic exocrine tissue.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.