Do children without a known bleeding tendency undergoing PICC placement require coagulation laboratory testing?

Pre-procedural platelet transfusion thresholds in hospitalised children - Protocol for a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Thrombocytopenia is a common condition in hospitalised critically ill children and most platelet transfusions are given as prophylaxis to non-bleeding children prior to invasive procedures such as central venous catheterisation and lumbar puncture. Platelet transfusion may reduce bleeding complications but have also been associated with potential adverse effects and variation in clinical practice exist. To direct future research, we aim to assess the current evidence regarding prophylactic platelet transfusion prior to procedures in hospitalised thrombocytopenic children.

METHODS

We will conduct a scoping review of all study designs in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. We will include studies on hospitalised children undergoing invasive procedures where the prevalence of thrombocytopenia and the predefined outcome measures, including bleeding, transfusion-related adverse events and use of blood products and life support are reported. We will provide descriptive analyses of the included studies/trials and the quality of evidence will be assessed according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

CONCLUSION

The outlined scoping review will provide an overview on the benefits and harms of prophylactic platelet transfusion prior to invasive procedures in thrombocytopenic hospitalised children.

The Care of Central Venous Catheters in the Oncopediatric Department

Introduction: Childhood cancer, with its major psycho-social and health impact, needs long-term chemotherapy. Increasing the intensity of treatment results in improved outcomes of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. As cytostatics have a vascular irritating effect and multiple peripheric venous punctures cause pain, insertion of a long-term central venous catheter (CVC) during chemotherapy is often necessary.

Materials and methods: All pediatric patients (aged below 18 years) with hematologic and malignant pathologies who underwent CVC insertion at the Pediatric Hemato-oncology Department of the County Emergency Clinical Hospital of Tîrgu Mureș in the February 2014 – May 2016 period were enrolled in the study.

Results: We recorded 24 cases who received central venous catheters, out of which 14 patients received tunneled CVC, 7 patients port CVC, and 3 patients received initially tunneled CVC which was changed with port CVC. Tunneled catheters were preserved in average for 186.06 days and portacaths for 256.6 days. For infection prophylaxis and treatment every child received adequate antibiotic medication.

Conclusions: The use of central lines in pediatric hemato-oncology is accessible and benefic not only for increasing patient comfort, but also to ease the nurses' work, who are often overburdened.