Decision-Making About Intracranial Pressure Monitor Placement in Children With Traumatic Brain Injury

Effects of intracranial pressure monitoring in pediatric severe traumatic brain injury: a meta-analysis of cohort studies

Introduction

As Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality. The clinical benefits of intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring in pediatric TBI remain debated. This meta-analysis aims to assess the impact of ICP monitoring on outcomes in children with severe TBI.

Methods

Following PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Studies comparing pediatric severe TBI patients with and without ICP monitoring were included. Primary outcomes included in-hospital mortality and complications, while secondary outcomes included craniotomy/craniectomy rate, length of hospital stay and ICU stay, mechanical ventilation duration, and medical costs. Quality assessment was performed using the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS) for cohort studies. The weighted mean difference (WMD) for continuous variables and odds ratio (OR) for dichotomous variables were calculated, along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4.1 software.

Results

Eight studies (12,987 patients) were included. ICP monitoring showed no significant impact on overall in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.14; p = 0.65), though propensity score matching (PSM) studies indicated a lower mortality rate with ICP monitoring (OR, 0.62; p = 0.005). However, ICP monitoring was associated with higher risks of infection-related (OR, 7.21; p < 0.001) and respiratory complications (OR, 5.79; p < 0.001), thromboembolic events (OR, 5.37; p < 0.001), increased craniotomy/craniectomy rates (OR, 2.34; P = 0.01), longer hospital (OR, 12.00; p < 0.001) and ICU stays (OR, 7.82; p < 0.001), extended mechanical ventilation durations (OR, 5.82; p < 0.001), and higher medical costs (WMD, 10.49; p = 0.006).

Conclusion

This meta-analysis found no overall reduction in in-hospital mortality with ICP monitoring in pediatric severe TBI, potentially due to baseline severity imbalances in retrospective studies. However, PSM studies suggest a mortality benefit, indicating that ICP monitoring may be effective when confounding is minimized. Increased complication risks, longer hospital/ICU stays, prolonged ventilation, and higher costs were associated with monitoring, though these may reflect injury severity rather than monitoring itself. Given the limitations of this study, these findings should be interpreted cautiously.

How to perform and interpret a middle cerebral artery transcranial Doppler examination in children at risk of brain injury

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound is a non-invasive neuromonitoring technique that falls under the umbrella of point-of-care ultrasound. In this article, we provide a primer to encourage clinicians to perform TCD examinations and to aid them with accurately interpreting the scans. We focus on the middle cerebral artery waveforms and use traumatic brain injury as a model for brain insult.

Clinical decision support tools for paediatric sepsis in resource-poor settings: an international qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

New paediatric sepsis criteria are being developed by an international task force. However, it remains unknown what type of clinical decision support (CDS) tools will be most useful for dissemination of those criteria in resource-poor settings. We sought to design effective CDS tools by identifying the paediatric sepsis-related decisional needs of multidisciplinary clinicians and health system administrators in resource-poor settings.

DESIGN

Semistructured qualitative focus groups and interviews with 35 clinicians (8 nurses, 27 physicians) and 5 administrators at health systems that regularly provide care for children with sepsis, April-May 2022.

SETTING

Health systems in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where sepsis has a large impact on child health and healthcare resources may be limited.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants had a mean age of 45 years, a mean of 15 years of experience, and were 45% female.

RESULTS

Emergent themes were related to the decisional needs of clinicians caring for children with sepsis and to the needs of health system administrators as they make decisions about which CDS tools to implement. Themes included variation across regions and institutions in infectious aetiologies of sepsis and available clinical resources, the need for CDS tools to be flexible and customisable in order for implementation to be successful, and proposed features and format of an ideal paediatric sepsis CDS tool.

CONCLUSION

Findings from this study will directly contribute to the design and implementation of CDS tools to increase the uptake and impact of the new paediatric sepsis criteria in resource-poor settings.

Parental involvement in decision making about intracranial pressure monitor placement in children with traumatic brain injury

OBJECTIVE

Little is known about how parents of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) participate or feel they should participate in decision making regarding placing an intracranial pressure (ICP) monitor. The objective of this study was to identify the perspectives and decisional or information needs of parents whose child sustained a TBI and may require an ICP monitor.

METHODS

This was a qualitative study at one US level I pediatric trauma center. The authors conducted in-depth semistructured interviews with 1) parents of critically injured children who have sustained a TBI and 2) clinicians who regularly care for children with TBI.

RESULTS

The authors interviewed 10 parents of 7 children (60% were mothers and 80% were white) and 28 clinicians (17 ICU clinicians and 11 surgeons). Overall, the authors found concordance between and among parents and clinicians about parental involvement in ICP monitor decision making. Parents and clinicians agreed that decision making about ICP monitoring in children who have suffered TBI is not and should not be shared between the parents and clinicians. The concordance was represented in 3 emergent themes. Parents wanted transparency, communication, and information (theme 2), but the life-threatening context of this decision (theme 1) created an environment where all involved reflected a clear preference for paternalism (theme 3).

CONCLUSIONS

The clear and concordant preference for clinician paternalistic decision making coupled with the parents' needs to be informed suggests that a decision support tool for this decision should be clinician facing and should emphasize transparency in collaborative decision making between clinicians.