Critically Ill Pediatric Oncology Patients: What the Intensivist Needs to Know? Pediatric Critical Care Medicine

Features of Metabolites and Biomarkers in Inflammatory and Infectious Complications of Childhood Cancers

Background: In the treatment of oncological diseases in children, the search for opportunities for the earlier detection of complications to improve treatment results is very important. Metabolomic studies are actively conducted to stratify different groups of patients in order to identify the most promising markers. Methods: Three groups of patients participated in this study: healthy children as a control group (n = 18), children with various malignant oncological diseases (leukemia, lymphoma, nephroblastoma, ependymoma, etc.) as patients (n = 40) without complications, and patients (n = 31) with complications (inflammatory and infectious). The mitochondrial metabolites (succinic and fumaric acids); biomarkers related to inflammation such as C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), and presepsin (PSP); and sepsis-associated aromatic metabolites, such as phenyllactic (PhLA), hydroxyphenyllactic (p-HPhLA), and hydroxyphenylacetic acids (p-HPhAA), were identified. Results: It was found that children with malignant oncological diseases had profound metabolic dysfunction compared to healthy children, regardless of the presence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) or sepsis. The prognostic ability of procalcitonin and presepsin for detecting sepsis was high: AUROC = 0.875, cut-off value (Youden index) = 0.913 ng/mL, and AUROC = 0.774, with cut-off value (Youden index) of 526 pg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: A significant increase in aromatic microbial metabolites and biomarkers in non-survivor patients that is registered already in the first days of the development of complications indicates the appropriateness of assessing metabolic dysfunction for its timely targeted correction.

Hematologic and Oncologic Emergencies in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: What Nurses Should Know

Most children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit with a new or reoccurring hematology or oncology diagnosis are at high risk for developing a hematologic or oncologic emergency. Although these children represent a low percentage of pediatric critical care admissions, their acuity is high, and their care is complicated and challenging. Nurses are an essential part of the interprofessional team of providers who care for these critically ill patients. Experience recognizing acute decompensation and excellent assessment and communication skills significantly improve patient outcomes.

Outcomes for critical illness in children with cancer: Analysis of risk factors for adverse outcome and resource utilization from a specialized center in Mexico

Introduction

Children with cancer have a higher risk of adverse outcomes during critical illness than general pediatric populations. In Low- and middle-income countries, lack of resources can further negatively impact outcomes in critically ill children with cancer.

Methods

In this study, we describe the outcomes of a large cohort of children with cancer including mortality and resource utilization. We performed a retrospective review of all patients admitted to our PICU between December 12th, 2013 and December 31st, 2019. Outcomes were defined as recovery or death and resource utilization was described via use of critical care interventions, Length of stay as well as PICU- and Mechanical Ventilation- free days.

Results

Overall mortality was 6.9% while mortality in the unplanned admissions was 9.1%. This remained lower than expected mortality based on PIM2 scoring. Type of PICU admission, Neurological Deterioration as a cause of PICU admission, and PIM2 were significant as risk factors in univariate analysis, but only PIM2 remained significant in the multivariate analysis.

Discussion

Our Study shows that high survival rates are achievable for children with cancer with critical illness in resource-limited settings with provision of high-quality critical care. Organizational and clinical practice facilitating quality improvement and early identification and management of critical illness may attenuate the impact of known risk factors for mortality in this population.

Evaluation of the need for hospital-based pediatric palliative care in a single center

Introduction/Aim: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death for children . Evidence suggests that these children experience substantial suffering from physical and emotional symptoms. Over the past two decades, paediatric palliative care has emerged as an approach that aims to ease suffering for children and their families coping with any life-threatening illness. Our aim is to encourage the expansion of palliative care centers for children with cancer and integration of these into healthcare services to assist clinicians and policy makers in developing services that address these needs. Material and Method: Our study is a single-center retrospective cohort study. The records of 39 patients who were followed up in the pediatric oncology clinic between 2010-2021 and died were reviewed retrospectively. Results: The age of diagnosis of patients was the most in the 6-12 range (n=16; 41%) and the least in the adolescent (n=11; 28.2%) age range. The cause of death was related to a disease in 79.5%. Treatment-related deaths were seen in eight patients, four of which were chemotherapy toxicity, two were engraftment failure in autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and two were post-transplant GVHD. 76.9% of the patients died in the intensive care unit. Conclusion: In our study, patients with cancer and those who lost their lives were evaluated retrospectively in terms of symptom load, invasive procedures, and psychosocial needs and the need for end-of-life palliative care. Many studies have confirmed that the timely integration of palliative care into routine oncological care has many advantages, such as improvements in physical and psychological symptoms, quality of life and prognosis, as well as reducing costs. In Turkey, palliative treatment is tried to be provided to late stage pediatric cancer patients by pediatric intensive care units and pediatric oncologists. This both increases the workload of physicians and causes intensive care bed occupation. The development and expansion of palliative care on late stage pediatric cancer patients will contribute significantly to the quality of life of both children and their families.