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Raymond D Pitetti

Publications and source records attributed to Raymond D Pitetti.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Use of etomidate as an induction agent for rapid sequence intubation in a pediatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVES: Although etomidate is widely used for rapid sequence intubation (RSI), there is no consensus on the optimal induction agent and no prospective pediatric emergency department (ED) study exists. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of etomidate as an induction agent for RSI in the pediatric ED. METHODS: Data on RSI conditions and complications were collected prospectively on patients undergoing RSI in a tertiary pediatric ED from January 2003 to December 2003. ED hemodynamic data and inpatient data were collected retrospectively via chart review. RESULTS: Seventy-seven of 101 patients requiring intubation underwent RSI with etomidate. The mean (+/- SD) age was 8.2 (+/- 6.2) years. All 77 patients were successfully intubated. Intubation condition data were available for 69 of 77 patients (89.6%). Conditions were good in 68 of 69 (99%; 95% confidence interval = 92.2% to 99.9%). The mean (+/- SD) maximal percent decrease in systolic blood pressure was 10% (+/- 13.6%). A greater than 20% maximal percent decrease in systolic blood pressure occurred in 12 of 69 patients (17.4%; 95% confidence interval = 9.3% to 28.4%). There was no relationship between seizures after etomidate administration and prior seizure history (p = 0.25). Corticosteroids were given to 29 of 77 patients post-RSI for varying diagnoses. All eight patients given corticosteroids for shock were in shock at the time of intubation. CONCLUSIONS: In the pediatric ED setting, etomidate as an induction agent provided successful RSI conditions and resulted in varied hemodynamic changes that were especially favorable in those patients presenting in decompensated shock. Hypotension and seizures were uncommon and occurred in patients with confounding diagnoses. Until the significance of a single dose of etomidate on adrenal dysfunction is further clarified, caution should be used in those patients at risk for adrenal insufficiency.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Comparison of 1- versus 2-person bag-valve-mask techniques for manikin ventilation of infants and children.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We compare the mean tidal volumes per weight and peak pressures generated by the 1- and 2-person techniques of bag-valve-mask ventilation in a pediatric model. METHODS: This was a prospective, descriptive study in which postgraduate year 1, postgraduate year 2, and postgraduate year 3 pediatric residents, postgraduate year 2 emergency medicine residents, pediatric emergency department nurses, transport personnel, and paramedics were asked to perform 1- and 2-person bag-valve-mask ventilation on infant and child manikins. Participants were randomly assigned a partner and performed both techniques. Tidal volume and peak pressure were recorded every 15 seconds for 3 minutes by a blinded assistant. RESULTS: Seventy participants, 10 in each group, completed the study. Overall, for the infant- and child-manikin groups, the 2-person technique generated higher mean tidal volume per weight than the 1-person technique (infant: 7.2 versus 5.9; child: 8.8 versus 6.1). Overall, the 2-person technique generated higher mean peak pressures than the 1-person technique (infant: 27.4 versus 22.0; child: 27.2 versus 21.8). Similar results were found among all provider groups. Paramedics were the only providers able to generate a recommended median tidal volume per weight of 10 mL/kg in the child manikin group when using either technique and were the only providers, when using the 2-person technique, to generate a mean tidal volume per weight of 10 mL/kg in the infant group. CONCLUSION: Two-person bag-valve-mask ventilation provided greater mean tidal volumes per weight and peak pressures in the infant- and child-manikin model compared with the 1-person technique.

Allied Health Personnel↗
PubMed2005

Prevalence of anemia in children presenting with apparent life-threatening events.

BACKGROUND: Anemia has been associated with apparent life-threatening events (ALTEs) in children. However, the nature of the association has not been well described. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine how often anemia occurs in children presenting with ALTEs. Specifically, the authors sought to prospectively describe hemoglobin (Hb) levels and mean corpuscular volumes (MCVs) in children presenting with either a single ALTE or recurrent events, and to compare the values with those of an age-matched control population. Patients who had recurrent events were compared with those who had single events because it was hypothesized that patients who were anemic would be more likely to have recurrent events. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study set in an urban, tertiary care emergency department of a large children's hospital. Children presenting with ALTEs and an age-matched control population were included. The mean Hb level, mean MCV, mean value for the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and proportion of patients found to be anemic were measured. RESULTS: Of 128 patients evaluated during the two-year study period, 108 were eligible for study and were age-matched to 108 control patients. Overall, the ALTE and control patients were similar with regard to age, gender, and race. However, the ALTE patients with recurrent events (37/108, 34.3%) were older (3.0 months vs. 1.6 and 2.1 months, p = 0.018) and had a lower mean Hb level (11.6 g/dL vs. 13.1 and 12.9 g/dL, p = 0.013), a lower MCH (30.3 fL vs. 33.1 and 32.4 fL, p < 0.001), and a lower MCV (88.4 pg vs. 96.6 and 93 pg, p < 0.01) than did the patients with a single event and the control patients, respectively. The rate of anemia in the ALTE patients with recurrent events was 21.6%, as compared with 16.9% of the patients with a single event (p = 0.13) and 9.3% of the control patients (p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Anemia is common in pediatric patients with recurrent ALTEs. Patients with recurrent ALTEs are older and have lower Hb, MCH, and MCV values than patients with a single ALTE and age-matched control patients. Significantly lower MCH and MCV values in patients with recurrent ALTEs suggest that iron deficiency may be associated with the recurrence of events.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2004

Does valsalva retinopathy occur in infants? An initial investigation in infants with vomiting caused by pyloric stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: Retinal hemorrhages (RHs) are 1 manifestation of child abuse, and although they often are considered to be diagnostic of abuse in a young child, there are other potential causes. RHs have been described in association with valsalva maneuver, such as forceful vomiting or coughing. Our aim was to describe the incidence of RH in infants with vomiting caused by pyloric stenosis. METHODS: A prospective, descriptive study was conducted of infants who underwent pyloromyotomy for hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS). Dilated retinal examinations were performed, and the findings were documented. RESULTS: A total of 100 infants with HPS were evaluated. Eighty-four infants were male, 92 were white, and 21 had a family history of pyloric stenosis. Thirty-seven examinations were performed in the operating room. Eighteen examinations were confirmed by a second investigator, and 3 children had dilated eye examinations documented independently by a pediatric ophthalmologist. No RHs were identified (0 of 100; 95% confidence interval: 0%-3%). One patient had facial petechiae, and 2 had subconjunctival hemorrhage. Electrolyte levels were abnormal in 63 patients. In 89 cases, the emesis was described as projectile. Patients varied in the number of episodes of emesis, with 30% of patients having >100 episodes of emesis before diagnosis. One patient had a respiratory arrest associated with vomiting in the emergency department and required bag-valve mask ventilation. CONCLUSIONS: No RHs were identified in 100 infants with vomiting caused by HPS. These results suggest that RHs do not result from forceful vomiting in infants.

Child Abuse↗
PubMed2003

Safe and efficacious use of procedural sedation and analgesia by nonanesthesiologists in a pediatric emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Children often require relief of pain and anxiety when undergoing diagnostic or therapeutic procedures in the emergency department (ED). Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) has become standard practice in the outpatient setting for such procedures. Few studies have looked at the overall success and incidence of complications of PSA as performed by nonanesthesiologists. OBJECTIVES: To prospectively describe PSA as performed in a pediatric ED and to report the success of sedation and incidence of complications. DESIGN: Prospective descriptive study. Setting and Population Subjects aged 0 to 21 years presenting to the ED of an urban, tertiary care, children's hospital between May 1, 1997, and April 30, 1999, requiring PSA for a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. METHODS: A PSA form was designed and used by ED personnel to record pertinent clinical and demographic characteristics of patients, information related to the procedure, vital signs, and occurrence of complications. Success of sedation was defined a priori as successful completion of the procedure in a minimally responsive subject. Complications were defined as apnea, hypoxia (sustained pulse oximetry, <93%), seizure, arrhythmia, laryngospasm, stridor, hypotension, rash, vomiting, disinhibition, or aspiration. Follow-up telephone calls were made to families within 24 to 48 hours of discharge from the ED to document further complications. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rate of success of sedation and incidence of complications. RESULTS: Procedural sedation and analgesia was performed 1244 times in 1215 patients during the study. The median age of the patients was 5.9 years (mean age, 6.9 years; range, 2 months to 19.4 years). There were 791 boys (65.1%) and 424 girls (34.9%). A little more than half of the patients (643 or 52.9%) required PSA for fracture reduction and 396 (32.6%) for laceration repair. Intravenous (IV) fentanyl citrate and midazolam hydrochloride was provided in 734 sedation events (59.0%); IV ketamine hydrochloride, midazolam, and atropine sulfate in 293 (23.6%); and intramuscular ketamine, midazolam, and atropine in 82 (6.6%). Procedural sedation and analgesia was successfully provided in 1177 (98.6%) of 1194 sedation events. Complications occurred in 207 (17.8%) of 1161 events. The most common complication was hypoxia (79.1% of patients), followed by vomiting (6.2% of patients). No patient required intubation. One patient had an oral airway placed, 3 patients received flumazenil, 3 patients received naloxone hydrochloride, and 1 patient received naloxone and bag-valve-mask ventilation. Seventy (9.8%) of 717 patients, following discharge from the ED, reported minor complications related to PSA. The most common complication was vomiting (76.7% of patients), followed by persistent dizziness (6.8% of patients). Patients who received IV fentanyl and midazolam were significantly more likely to experience a complication during PSA (P<.001), while patients sedated using IV ketamine, midazolam, and atropine (P =.006) or IV midazolam alone (P =.005) were less likely. No difference in success of sedation or incidence of complications at follow-up was found between the types of PSA provided. CONCLUSIONS: Complications related to PSA occurred in 17.9% of patients, but most commonly consisted of hypoxia that was easily treated. Sedation was successful in 98.6% of patients. Procedural sedation and analgesia can be safely and effectively provided by nonanesthesiologists in a pediatric ED.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

When is a patient safe for discharge after procedural sedation? The timing of adverse effect events in 1367 pediatric procedural sedations.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The optimal timing of discharge from the emergency department (ED) after pediatric procedural sedation and analgesia has not been well studied. Because concern about delayed adverse effects commonly delays discharge after sedation, we attempted to establish the timing of adverse effects in our cohort of procedural sedations. METHODS: We analyzed data from a prospectively generated database comprising consecutive sedation events throughout a 2-year period. We determined the timing of serious (eg, hypoxia, stridor, hypotension) and other adverse effects from final medication administration and calculated adverse effect risk ratios in relation to sedation characteristics. RESULTS: In 1341 sedation events, there were 184 (13.7%) adverse effects, of which 159 (11.9%) were serious. The median age of children with and without adverse effects was similar (64 months in both groups). Most adverse effects occurred during the procedure (92%) rather than after the procedure (8%). Serious adverse effects occurred a median of 2 minutes after final medication dose (range -106 to +40 minutes). One hypoxic episode occurred each at 26, 30, and 40 minutes after final medication administration; all were repeated occurrences in children who had experienced previous hypoxia during the expected peak drug effect. CONCLUSION: Adverse effects were common; however, serious adverse effects rarely occurred after 25 minutes from the final medication administration. Those that did occur this late were all preceded by a separate similar adverse effect during the expected peak drug effect, which suggests that when similar medication regimens are used, discharge from the ED may be safe at approximately 30 minutes after final sedation medication administration if no adverse effects have occurred.

Adjuvants, Anesthesia↗
PubMed2003

Clinical evaluation of a quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction assay for diagnosis of primary Epstein-Barr virus infection in children.

BACKGROUND: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infectious mononucleosis is often diagnosed based on characteristic clinical features and either a positive heterophil antibody test or serology, both of which can be unreliable in young children. Real time quantitative PCR assays that measure EBV DNA load in serum or plasma are highly sensitive in young children, but serum and plasma contain inhibitors of PCR which must be removed by DNA extraction techniques. A real time TaqMan PCR assay was designed and evaluated for simultaneously measuring EBV DNA load and validating the removal of PCR inhibitors from serum samples. METHODS: A serum sample was available from patients classified serologically as primary EBV infection (n = 28), EBV-seronegative (n = 25) and EBV-seropositive (n = 26). Patients were classified as having EBV infectious mononucleosis if they had specified clinical findings and > or =10% atypical lymphocytes in peripheral blood or had a positive Monospot test result. DNA was purified by a spin column method and tested in PCR reactions with primers for EBV DNA polymerase gene and internal control targets. Amplification of the two PCR products was measured in real time with separate TaqMan DNA probes labeled with various fluorescent reporters. RESULTS: The mean age of study patients was 9 years, 4 months. Twenty-one (75%) of the patients in the primary EBV infection group, one (4%) of the seronegatives and none of the seropositives had detectable EBV DNA. Within the primary infection group, those with detectable virus were more likely than those without detectable virus to have evidence of lymphadenopathy (14 of 16 vs.1 of 5; P = 0.011), higher mean atypical (11.7 vs.0.9%; P = 0.002) and absolute atypical (1.5 vs.0.1 x 109/l; P = 0.004) lymphocyte count, higher mean absolute lymphocyte count (4.7 vs.2.3 x 109/l; P = 0.026) and higher mean aspartate aminotransferase value (119.8 vs.37.3 IU/l; P = 0.036). Ten patients, all in the primary infection group, had EBV infectious mononucleosis, and all had positive PCR results. No sample contained PCR inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: A real time TaqMan PCR assay allows rapid identification of patients with primary EBV infection and those with EBV infectious mononucleosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Utility of blood cultures in febrile children with UTI.

The objective of the study was to define the prevalence of bacteremia in febrile children <18 years of age diagnosed to have acute urinary tract infection (UTI). Retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed to have a UTI in the emergency department (ED) of an urban, tertiary care children's hospital was conducted Seven hundred forty-four children were discharged or admitted from the ED with a diagnosis of UTI during the study period. Thirty-six (4.8%) patient records were unavailable for review; 343 met inclusion criteria. Two hundred forty-nine patients (72.8%) had a history of fever. Blood cultures were performed on 183 (53.4%) patients. Of febrile patients, 178 (71.5%) had a blood culture performed. Seventeen of 183 (9.3%) blood cultures were positive. All (17/178, 9.5%) positive blood cultures were obtained from febrile patients. Seven of the positive blood cultures were considered to be contaminated. The prevalence of true bacteremia in febrile patients was 5.6%. All 10 patients with a true pathogen recovered from the blood culture had the same organism in their urine culture. The prevalence of bacteremia in patients younger than 2 months was 22.7% and in patients between the ages of 2 months and 36 months, 3.0%. Patients with a positive blood culture were more likely to be younger, to have been hospitalized and to have had a longer duration of hospitalization. No difference was found between patients with a positive blood culture and those without in regards to the number of days of illness before presentation, time to defervescence and mean white blood cell count. Bacteremia in children with UTI is most common in very early infancy. Children with UTI between the ages of 2 months and 12 years appear to have a low risk of bacteremia. Children who are bacteremic are likely to have identical organisms with identical antimicrobial sensitivities in both the urine and blood culture.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Myocardial infarction and atypical Kawasaki disease in a 3-month-old infant.

Diagnosing atypical Kawasaki disease (AKD) in children is often difficult and frequently delayed. As a result, children may present with life-threatening cardiovascular complications of the disease. Such complications include myocarditis, coronary artery abnormalities (eg, aneurysms), and myocardial infarction. In this report, we describe the case of a 3-month-old infant who presented to our emergency department in cardiovascular collapse. She was found to have multiple coronary artery aneurysms and a myocardial infarction and was subsequently diagnosed with AKD. This report reviews the diagnostic criteria for Kawasaki disease and AKD, common cardiovascular sequelae, and the presentation of children with these cardiovascular complications.

Coronary Aneurysm↗
PubMed2002

Prevalence of retinal hemorrhages and child abuse in children who present with an apparent life-threatening event.

OBJECTIVE: Child abuse (CA) can present with a spectrum of signs and symptoms. Apparent life-threatening events (ALTEs) may be a subtle presentation of CA. Retinal hemorrhages (RHs) are a well-described finding in some patients with CA. We hypothesized that screening children who present with a chief complaint of an ALTE for RH would detect an otherwise occult presentation of CA. METHODS: Children who were younger than 24 months of age and presented to the emergency department between March 1, 1997, and February 28, 1999, with signs and symptoms consistent with the National Institutes of Health's definition of an ALTE were studied prospectively. Children were excluded when it was readily apparent on presentation that the child was a victim of CA. Demographic data, a complete blood count with differential, venous blood gas, carboxyhemoglobin level, and urine toxicological screen were collected. A pediatric ophthalmologist performed a dilated funduscopic examination; patients who were found to have RH underwent a noncontrast computerized tomographic scan of the head and skeletal survey to evaluate for occult injury. Evaluations by social services or Children, Youth and Families, the results of all diagnostic tests obtained, and the final discharge diagnosis were recorded. Medical records of all patients were reviewed at 1 year; subsequent visits, hospitalizations, and evaluations by social services or Children, Youth and Families were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 128 patients presented to the emergency department with an ALTE during the study period. No patients were excluded. Mean age was 2.1 months (median: 1.27; range: 0.07-16.0; standard deviation: 2.1). Fifty-seven (44.5%) were boys; 86 (67.2%) were white, and 36 (27.9%) were black. A total of 26 (20.3%) of 128 patients had a history of an ALTE, 4 (3.4%) of 117 had a family history of an ALTE, and 15 (12.8%) of 117 had a family history of sudden infant death syndrome. Dilated funduscopic examination was performed on 73 (57.0%) of 128 patients; RH was detected in 1 patient (1.4%). Four children, including the patient with RH, underwent an evaluation for suspected abuse; 3 (2.3%) of 128 were determined to have been abused. CONCLUSIONS: RH was detected in 1 (1.4%) of 73 patients in our population of infants with ALTEs and 1 of 3 patients who were victims of CA and presented with an ALTE. CA was detected in 2.3% of patients who presented with an ALTE. The diagnosis of CA should be seriously considered in patients who present with an ALTE. The evaluation of ALTEs should include funduscopic examination as ALTEs and RHs are associated with CA.

Child Abuse↗