Although common, little is known about the characteristics and management of undifferentiated abdominal pain (UAP) in the pediatric emergency department (ED). This study was a 12-month retrospective study for “abdominal pain” ED visits. Patients without an identifiable diagnosis were categorized as “UAP,” while others with identified disease processes were categorized as “structural gastrointestinal diagnosis (SGID).” We included 2383 (72%) visits with 869 (36.5%) UAP visits and 1514 (63.5%) SGID visits. SGID patients had more laboratory tests (811 [53.6%] vs 422 [48.6%], P = .0186), and often had multiple tests performed (565 [69.7%] vs 264 [62.6%], P = .0116). Computed tomography and ultrasound scans were more common in SGID (computed tomography: 108 [7.1%] vs 27 [3.1%], P = .0004; ultrasound: 377 [24.9%] vs 172 [19.9%], P = .0044), and laboratory results (white blood cell count, hemoglobin, albumin, C-reactive protein) were abnormal at significantly higher rates. Analyses revealed the duration of pain as primary covariate in variance of pain etiology. Clinical features, such as duration of pain, may be augmented by laboratory tests to facilitate recognition of UAP in the ED.

Study Objective To estimate the minimum dose and total sedation time of rapidly infused ketamine that achieves 3-5 minutes of effective sedation in children undergoing forearm fracture reduction in the emergency department. Methods We used the Up-Down method to estimate the median dose of intravenous ketamine infused over ≤ 5 sec that provided effective sedation in 50% (ED50) and 95% (ED95) of healthy children aged 2-5, 6-11 or 12-17 years undergoing forearm fracture reduction. Most were pretreated with opioids. Three investigators blinded to ketamine dose independently graded sedation effectiveness by viewing a video recording of the first 5 minutes of sedation. Recovery was assessed by Modified Aldrete score. Results We enrolled 20 children in each age group. The estimated ED50 was 0.7, 0.5 and 0.6 mg/kg and the estimated ED95 was 0.7, 0.7 and 0.8 mg/kg for the 2-5, 6-11 and 12-17 years age groups, respectively. For the 2-5 years age group, an empirically derived ED95 was 0.8 mg/kg. All who received the empirically derived ED95 in the 2-5 years group or the estimated ED95 in the 6-11 and 12-17 years group had effective sedation. The median total sedation time for the three age groups respectively, was 25, 22.5 and 25 minutes if one dose of ketamine was administered and 35, 25 and 45 minutes if additional doses were administered. No participant experienced serious adverse events. Conclusions We estimated ED50 and ED95 for rapidly infused ketamine for three age groups undergoing fracture reduction. Total sedation time was shorter than most previous studies.

Objective:The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive profile of clinical and psychosocial characteristics of children with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures and to assess the short-term outcome of these patients.Materials and Methods:The subjects were consecutive cases of children with a diagnosis of nonepileptic seizures (N=17, mean age = 10.7 years, S.D. = 1.26) and two groups of control groups matched on age and sex: true seizure group and healthy controls. All the children were recruited from the out-patient services of the Department of Pediatrics of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India. Detailed history taking and clinical examination was done in the case of every child. A standard 18 channel EEG was done in all the children and a video EEG was done in 12 cases of children with nonepileptic seizures. The Childhood Psychopathology Measurement Schedule (CPMS) and Life Events Scale for Indian Children (LESIC) were used to measure the children's emotional and behavioral functioning at home, and the number of life events and the stress associated with these events in the preceding year and the year before that. Short-term outcome was examined three to six months after the diagnosis of nonepileptic seizures was made.Results:Unresponsiveness without marked motor manifestations was the most common “ictal” characteristic of the nonepileptic seizures. Pelvic thrusting, upper and lower limb movements, head movements, and vocalization were observed in less than one-third of the patients. Increased psychosocial stress and significantly higher number of life events in the preceding year were found to characterize children with nonepileptic seizures, as compared to the two control groups. The nonepileptic seizures and true seizures groups had a higher proportion of children with psychopathology scores in the clinically significant maladjustment range, as compared to those in the healthy control group. A majority of the patients (82.4%) either recovered completely or had more than 50% reduction in the frequency of their symptoms, after three to six months of initiation of therapy.Conclusions:Psychosocial stress is common among children with nonepileptic seizures. Confirmatory diagnosis by video EEG, along with prompt psychosocial intervention, often results in a favorable outcome for most children with nonepileptic seizures.

Study Objective To estimate the minimum dose and total sedation time of rapidly infused ketamine that achieves 3 to 5 minutes of effective sedation in children undergoing abscess incision and drainage in the emergency department. Methods The Up-Down method was used to estimate the dose of intravenous ketamine infused over 5 seconds or less that provided effective sedation in 50% (ED50) and 95% (ED95) for healthy children aged 2 to 5 years and 6 to 11 years undergoing abscess incision and drainage. None were pretreated with opioids. Three investigators blinded to ketamine dose independently graded sedation effectiveness by viewing a video recording of the first 5 minutes of sedation. Recovery was determined when patients reached a Modified Aldrete score of 10. Results We enrolled 20 children in each age group. The estimated ED50 was 0.9 and 0.6 mg/kg for the 2 to 5 years and 6 to 11 years' groups and the estimated ED95 was 1.1 mg/kg for both groups. The median time to full recovery for the 2 groups was 20.5 and 17.5 minutes when only 1 dose of ketamine was administered and 27.5 and 35 minutes when additional doses of ketamine were administered. No participants experienced serious adverse events. Conclusions We estimated ED50 and ED95 for rapidly infused ketamine for 2 age groups undergoing abscess incision and drainage. Further studies are needed to get a more precise estimate of ED95. The total sedation time with this technique in the abscess group was shorter than most previous studies and is consistent with our previous observations in patients undergoing fracture reduction.

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