We present our recent experience with a 6-month-old infant with a personal history of short bowel syndrome that presented with fever, cyanosis, and cardiogenic shock secondary to severe pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure without pulmonary thromboembolism. He did not present signs of toxin-mediated disease or Kawasaki disease. He was finally diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. If this presentation is confirmed in future research, the severe cardiovascular impairment in children with COVID-19 could be also attributable to the primary pulmonary infection, not only to a multisystem inflammatory syndrome but also in children without heart disease.

Background and AimsThere is no evidence that the epinephrine-3% hypertonic saline combination is more effective than 3% hypertonic saline alone for treating infants hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis. We evaluated the efficacy of nebulized epinephrine in 3% hypertonic saline.Patients and MethodsWe performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 208 infants hospitalized with acute moderate bronchiolitis. Infants were randomly assigned to receive nebulized 3% hypertonic saline with either 3 mL of epinephrine or 3 mL of placebo, administered every four hours. The primary outcome measure was the length of hospital stay.ResultsA total of 185 infants were analyzed: 94 in the epinephrine plus 3% hypertonic saline group and 91 in the placebo plus 3% hypertonic saline group. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics were similar in both groups. Length of hospital stay was significantly reduced in the epinephrine group as compared with the placebo group (3.94 ±1.88 days vs. 4.82 ±2.30 days, P = 0.011). Disease severity also decreased significantly earlier in the epinephrine group (P = 0.029 and P = 0.036 on days 3 and 5, respectively).ConclusionsIn our setting, nebulized epinephrine in 3% hypertonic saline significantly shortens hospital stay in hospitalized infants with acute moderate bronchiolitis compared to 3% hypertonic saline alone, and improves the clinical scores of severity from the third day of treatment, but not before.Trial Registration EudraCT 2009-016042-57

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Background and Objectives: Accurate and readily available biomarkers to predict the clinical course of bronchiolitis would enable enhanced decision-making in this setting. We explored the relationship of several biochemical parameters available at the pediatric emergency care setting with the need of advanced respiratory support (ARS): continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), biphasic positive airway pressure (BiPAP), or invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) in bronchiolitis.Methods: Single-center, prospective, observational, including infants aged less than 12 months diagnosed with acute bronchiolitis at the Pediatric Emergency Department. Determination of plasmatic values of several laboratory tests was performed at the time of hospital admission. Multivariate logistic analysis identified independent predictors for need of ARS.Results: From October 1, 2018 to May 1, 2020, we recruited 149 infants (58% males; median age of 1 [0.5-2.5] month). Thirty-seven (25%) cases required ARS.After adjusting by age, bacterial superinfection, and comorbidities in the multivariate analysis, only higher levels of glycemia (p = 0.001), C-reactive protein (CRP) (p = 0.028), CRP/albumin ratio (p = 0.032), and NT-proBNP (p = 0.001) remained independently associated with ARS. These biomarkers reached moderate prediction accuracy with area under the curve of receiver operator curve curves ranging from 0.701 to 0.830 (p = 0.001). All they presented relatively high specificity (0.75-0.84) and negative predictive values (0.77-0.89) with low sensitivity and positive predictive values. They also correlated significantly with length of stay hospitalization (p = 0.001). Conclusion:Increased plasmatic levels of CRP, CRP/albumin ratio, glycemia, and NT-proBNP at hospital admission are associated with the need for ARS in infants with acute bronchiolitis.

We aimed to delineate cardiopulmonary interactions in acute bronchiolitis and to evaluate the capacity of a combined cardiopulmonary ultrasonography to predict the need for respiratory support. This was a prospective observational single-center study that includes infants <12 month of age admitted to a hospital due to acute bronchiolitis. All the included patients underwent clinical, laboratory and cardiopulmonary ultrasonographic evaluation at the same time point within 24 h of hospital admission. The existence of significant correlation between cardiac and respiratory parameters was the primary outcome. The association of different cardiopulmonary variables with the need of respiratory support higher than O2, the length of stay hospitalization, the PICU stay and the duration of respiratory support were a secondary outcome. We enrolled 112 infants (median age 1 (0.5–3) months; 62% males) hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis. Increased values of the pulmonary variables (BROSJOD score, pCO2 and LUS) showed moderate correlations with NT-proBNP and all echocardiographic parameters indicative of pulmonary hypertension and myocardial dysfunction (Tei index). Up to 36 (32%) infants required respiratory support during the hospitalization. This group presented with higher lung ultrasound score (p < 0.001) and increased values of NT-proBNP (p < 0.001), the Tei index (p < 0.001) and pulmonary artery pressures (p < 0.001). All the analyzed respiratory and cardiac variables showed moderate-to-strong correlations with the LOS of hospitalization and the time of respiratory support. Lung ultrasound and echocardiography showed a moderate-to-strong predictive accuracy for the need of respiratory support in the ROC analysis, with the AUC varying from 0.74 to 0.87. Those cases of bronchiolitis with a worse pulmonary status presented with a more impaired cardiac status. Cardiopulmonary ultrasonography could be a useful tool to easily identify high-risk populations for complicated acute bronchiolitis hospitalization.

This is the first report of PSVT as an adverse reaction to DEX in a paediatric patient without heart disease.

pilot was carried out from 8 am-8 pm Monday to Friday. Data collected included time of arrival and assessment, admission rates, parental and staff satisfaction. Results During Jan 2013 and April 2013 between 8 am-8 pm there was a total of 785 admissions. A retrospective analysis was carried out on 80 randomly selected charts. Ages ranged from 3 weeks to 13 years 9 months, with a median age of 3 years 5 months. 97% of patients were seen within 4 h of nursing triage with only 59% being reviewed by a senior doctor within the following 4 h of their initial medical review.There were 100 APAU admissions during May 2013. Only 87 charts were available and audited. Ages ranged from 2 days to 14 years with a median age of 1 year 7 months. Common diagnoses included gastroenteritis and respiratory tract infections. 100% of patients were medically assessed within 4 h of nursing triage with 85% of patients being reviewed by a senior doctor within the following 4 h (p value 0.01).Admission rates fell from 95% to 44% during the hours of 8 am-8 pm (p value < 0.0001). Staff impression of our facilities for managing direct admissions as good or excellent improved from 25% to 95%. Patient and parent feedback was excellent. Conclusion We have shown that developing a model of acute paediatric assessment in a DGH setting can both reduce admissions and improve quality outcomes. Both physical infrastructure and funding remain issues for sustainability however we believe that this project demonstrates the value in investing in acute paediatric care.Primary Care: Infections Background and aims The smoking parent is considered a risk factor of severity for acute bronchiolitis (AB). We aimend to evaluate the relationship between parental history of smoking and length of stay of infants hospitalised for AB. Methods Prospective descriptive study including all infants admitted for moderately bronchiolitis, between 2011 and 2013. They were grouped in smoking parent or not. Severe bronchiolitis and patients with serious risk factors were excluded. The primary outcome was length of stay (LOS). The following variables were recorded: age, sex, atopic dermatitis, parental atopy, number of siblings, breastfeeding, RSV, treatment received, need for PICU, mortality and clinical score at admission. Results Among the 137 enrolled infants, 56.2% had no smoking parent. There were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) between the two groups in the following variables: median age (40 vs 59 days), male gender (48% vs 53%), atopic dermatitis (6.7% vs 15.6%), breastfeeding (59.7% vs 53.3%), number of siblings (0.66 vs. 0.63) day care attendance (16.9% vs. 6.7%), severity score (5.35 vs 5.28), percentage of positive RSV (67% vs 65%) and PICU admission (7.8% vs 5%). There were statistically significant differences in parental atopy (p =