Background: Surgical correction of craniosynostosis in children is associated with substantial intraoperative bleeding. Tranexamic acid (TXA) decreases intraoperative blood loss during cardiac or orthopedic surgery in children. We hypothesized that intraoperative TXA would reduce blood transfusion relative to placebo in patients pretreated with erythropoietin.

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In a descriptive sense, this article broaches 2 important questions that anesthesiologists confront during the informed consent process. First, how much information regarding anesthetic risks, benefits, and alternatives should one discuss during informed consent? And second, to what extent do parents (or patients) comprehend the information provided, and as a corollary, what is the optimal mode of assessing the degree of comprehension? In this study, a full 30% of parents had no specific questions before surgery, whereas another 18% thought the information provided was inadequate and desired more discussion and disclosure. Perhaps we need a better means of sorting out how the provider of information interfaces with the receiver of the same information.

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This paper reviews screening and three-dimensional diagnostic ultrasound imaging of the fetal face. The different techniques available for analyzing biometric and morphological items of the profile, eyes, ears, lips, and hard and soft palate are commented on and briefly compared with the respective bi-dimensional techniques. The available literature supports the use of three-dimensional ultrasound in difficult prenatal diagnostic conditions because of its diagnostic accuracy, enabling improved safety of perinatal care. Globally, a marked increase has been observed in the accuracy of three-dimensional ultrasound in comparison with the bidimensional approach. Because there is no consensus about the performance of the different three-dimensional techniques, future studies are needed in order to compare them and to find the best technique for analysis of each of the respective facial elements. Universal prenatal standards may integrate these potential new findings in the future. At this time, the existing guidelines for prenatal facial screening should not be changed.