[Delayed meconium passage due to malrotation and colon atresia].

Background: If a newborn does not pass the first bowel movement within 48 hours, there may be an underlying cause. We describe a rare cause of delayed meconium passage.

Case Description: The neonate was born after a gestational age of 40 weeks and 2 days.

Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin identifies critically ill young children with acute kidney injury following intensive care admission: a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) are at high risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI). Although serum creatinine (SCr) levels are used in clinical practice, they are insensitive for early diagnosis of AKI. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) are novel AKI biomarkers whose performance in pediatric ICU patients is largely unknown.

Reproducibility of microvascular vessel density analysis in Sidestream dark-field-derived images of healthy term newborns.

Objective: Microcirculatory visualization has already been used to investigate buccal and cutaneous microcirculatory alterations in neonates. Still, the reproducibility of these microvascular measurements has never been studied in (premature) neonates. This study aimed to determine the reproducibility of microvascular vessel density in cutaneous and buccal SDF clips in one-day-old term newborns.

Increasing mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate with catecholaminergic drugs does not improve the microcirculation in children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: To study whether dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine improve not only mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate but also microcirculatory perfusion in children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Design: Prospective observational cohort study from November 2009 to July 2012.

Setting: ICU of a level III university children's hospital.

Early microcirculatory impairment during therapeutic hypothermia is associated with poor outcome in post-cardiac arrest children: a prospective observational cohort study.

Aims Of The Study: This study aimed to evaluate if the microcirculation is impaired during and after therapeutic hypothermia (TH) in children with return of spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest (CA) and to assess if microcirculatory impairment predicts mortality. This has been reported for post-CA adults, but results might be different for children because etiology, pathophysiology, and mortality rate differ.

Methods: This prospective observational cohort study included consecutive, non-neonatal post-CA children receiving TH upon intensive care admission between June 2008 and June 2012.

Biomarkers and clinical tools in critically ill children: are we heading toward tailored drug therapy?

In pediatric critical care, validated biomarkers are essential for guiding drug therapy. The aim of this article is to present examples of current biomarker developments in its full breadth, including biochemical substances, physiological measurements and clinical scoring tools, with a focus on the field of circulatory, renal and neurophysiologic failure. Within each field we consecutively discuss the rationale for the selected biomarkers, studies in critically ill children, biomarker validation stage and biomarker use or potential use in drug studies and clinical drug dosing.

The Microcirculation Is Unchanged in Neonates with Severe Respiratory Failure after the Initiation of ECMO Treatment.

Purpose. Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) is known to improve cardiorespiratory function and outcome in neonates with severe respiratory failure. We tested the hypothesis that VA-ECMO therapy improves the microcirculation in neonates with severe respiratory failure.