Point-of-care lung ultrasound to evaluate lung isolation during one-lung ventilation in children: A case report

Anesthesia for thoracic surgery in infants and children

The management of infants and children presenting for thoracic surgery poses a variety of challenges for anesthesiologists. A thorough understanding of the implications of developmental changes in cardiopulmonary anatomy and physiology, associated comorbid conditions, and the proposed surgical intervention is essential in order to provide safe and effective clinical care. This narrative review discusses the perioperative anesthetic management of pediatric patients undergoing noncardiac thoracic surgery, beginning with the preoperative assessment. The considerations for the implementation and management of one-lung ventilation (OLV) will be reviewed, and as will the anesthetic implications of different surgical procedures including bronchoscopy, mediastinoscopy, thoracotomy, and thoracoscopy. We will also discuss pediatric-specific disease processes presenting in neonates, infants, and children, with an emphasis on those with unique impact on anesthetic management.

The Role of a Handheld Ultrasound Device to Facilitate Remote Learning for a Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certificate Program

Point-of-care ultrasound is a growing field within anesthesiology as well as several other medical and surgical specialties. The recent development of handheld ultrasound devices has the potential to expand the use or this technology by decreasing the cost and increasing accessibility for the healthcare provider. These handheld devices may be used to assist with education, training, and even direct patient care. We outline our process for using a handheld ultrasound device, the Lumify, to assist in the completion of a point-of-care ultrasound certificate program offered by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. We outline the unique advantages of this device as it relates to cost, portability, and applicability of its web-based technology compared to a traditional standalone ultrasound machine for the completion of this course.

Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound to Evaluate Lung Isolation During One-Lung Ventilation in Children: Narrative Review

This review focuses on the current technique and evidence regarding the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to evaluate lung isolation for thorax surgery in infants and children. Previous reports in infants and children are presented. Figures and high-quality video are used to demonstrate the technique for POCUS in pediatric patients and to highlight differences between pediatric and patients. Lung sliding in B-mode and the seashore sign in M-mode suggest that the lung is ventilated. Pediatric anesthesiologists should be familiar with this technique as it is non-invasive and may also be more accurate when compared with auscultation.

Thoracic surgery by minimally invasion robot-assisted in children: “experience and current status”

Aim: We report our experience in minimally invasive thoracic robot-assisted surgery in children, and a current analysis is carried out on this topic.

Methods: Observational, prospective, and longitudinal studies were performed for children with thoracic pathology treated with robotic surgery, from March 2015 to April 2019. We used the “da Vinci surgical system” (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA. USA). Registered variables included demographic data, diagnosis, surgery, total time, time of console surgery, bleeding, hemotransfusions, conversions, complications, postoperative (PO) stay, and follow-up. Measures of central tendency were used. Research Ethics Committee of Hospital approved the study. We conducted a detailed non-systematic review of previous publications of children undergoing thoracic robotic surgery.

Results: We treated 11 children, with average age of 5.7 years and weight of 21.3 kg. Diagnosis were: congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, intralobar sequestration, diaphragmatic paralysis, diaphragmatic eventration, mediastinal teratoma, Ewing’s tumor of the fourth left rib, and pulmonary tuberculosis. Surgeries performed were: four lobectomies, four diaphragmatic plications, two tumor resections, and a case of pleural and lung biopsies. The average of console surgery time was 166.45 min, PO stay was 3.6 days, and follow-up was 24.7 months. Conversions and PO complications were 9.1%, and there were no intraoperative complications and mortality. Currently, the number of children treated with thoracic robot-assisted surgery has barely reached 100 cases.

Conclusion: Our results are encouraging, although our experience is limited to a few cases. Robotic surgery for the treatment of thoracic pathology is feasible and safe, and has advantages. To date, very few patients have been treated, and few pediatric surgeons worldwide have applied thoracic robotic surgery in children.