Incidence of severe critical events in paediatric anaesthesia (APRICOT): a prospective multicentre observational study in 261 hospitals in Europe

BACKGROUND: Regional anesthesia is increasingly used in pediatric patients to provide postoperative analgesia and to supplement intraoperative anesthesia. The Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network was formed to obtain highly audited data on practice patterns and complications and to facilitate collaborative research in regional anesthetic techniques in infants and children. METHODS: We constructed a centralized database to collect detailed prospective data on all regional anesthetics performed by anesthesiologists at the participating centers. Data were uploaded via a secure Internet connection to a central server. Data were rigorously audited for accuracy and errors were corrected. All anesthetic records were scrutinized to ensure that every block that was performed was captured in the database. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were tracked until their resolution. Blocks were categorized by type and as single- injection or catheter (continuous) blocks. RESULTS: A total of 14,917 regional blocks, performed on 13,725 patients, were accrued from April 1, 2007 through March 31, 2010. There were no deaths or complications with sequelae lasting >3 months (95% CI 0–2:10,000). Single- injection blocks had fewer adverse events than continuous blocks, although the most frequent events (33% of all events) in the latter group were catheter- related problems. Ninety- five percent of blocks were placed while patients were under general anesthesia. Single- injection caudal blocks were the most frequently performed (40%), but peripheral nerve blocks were also frequently used (35%), possibly driven by the widespread use of ultrasound (83% of upper extremity and 69% of lower extremity blocks). CONCLUSIONS: Regional anesthesia in children as commonly performed in the United States has a very low rate of complications, comparable to that seen in the large multicenter European studies. Ultrasound may be increasing the use of peripheral nerve blocks. Multicenter collaborative networks such as the Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network can facilitate the collection of detailed prospective data for research and quality improvement. (Anesth Analg 2012;115: 1353–64)

Pediatric regional anesthesia network (PRAN): A multi-institutional study of the use and incidence of complications of pediatric regional anesthesia

https://rapm.bmj.com/content/rapm/34/2/134-170.full.pdf

Lower extremity regional anesthesia: essentials of our current understanding.

https://rapm.bmj.com/content/rapm/40/5/401.full.pdf

The Second ASRA Practice Advisory on Neurologic Complications Associated With Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine: Executive Summary 2015

Editor’s PerspectiveWhat We Already Know about This TopicRegional anesthesia is associated with a low but poorly quantified incidence of complications.What This Article Tells Us That Is NewIn a prospective multicenter cohort of more than 100,000 blocks in children, there were no cases of permanent n

Complications in Pediatric Regional Anesthesia: An Analysis of More than 100,000 Blocks from the Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network.

BACKGROUND: The French-Language Society of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists (ADARPEF) designed a 1-year prospective, multicenter and anonymous study to update both epidemiology and morbidity of regional anesthesia in children. METHODS: From November 2005 to October 2006, data from participating hospitals were recorded using an identification form, a data recording form, and a complication form. Information collected included the characteristics of the hospitals, the number and type of regional anesthetics (RA), the age of the involved children as well as the incidence, and type of complications. RESULTS: Data collected in 47 institutions included 104,612 pure general anesthesias (GAs), 29,870 GAs associated with regional blocks, and 1262 pure regional blocks. Central blocks accounted for 34% of all RA. Peripheral blocks (66%) were upper or lower limb blocks (29% of peripheral blocks), trunk blocks, and face blocks (71%). In children aged ≤3 years, the percentage of central blocks was similar to the peripheral ones (45% vs 55), while in older children, peripheral blocks were more than four times used than central ones. Complications (41 involving 40 patients) were rare and usually minor. They did not result in any sequelae. The study revealed an overall rate of complication of 0.12%; CI 95% [0.09-0.17], significantly six times higher for central than for peripheral blocks. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of the low rate of complications, RA techniques have a good safety profile and can be used to provide postoperative analgesia. In addition, the results should encourage anesthesiologists to continue to use peripheral instead of central (including caudal) blocks as often as possible when appropriate.

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Epidemiology and morbidity of regional anesthesia in children : a follow-up one-year prospective survey of the French-Language Society of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists (ADARPEF)

Because a eutectic mixture of lidocaine and procaine (EMLA cream) is used to treat pain in children who are undergoing venipuncture for screening clinical presurgery laboratory tests, this study was designed to investigate the influence of the time of application of EMLA cream on lidocaine transcutaneous absorption in children. The same phenomenon was also studied in rats. Local application of EMLA (right and left cubital fossae) was performed 1 hour before venipuncture in two groups of children (0.5 g/kg body weight at two sites), at 08:15 or 16.15 h; blood samples were performed 1 h later. Two groups of five rats each received 12 mg/kg lidocaine at 07:30 or 19.30 h by application to the back skin. Blood samples were collected 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 h after application. Plasma lidocaine levels were assayed according to an immunoenzymatic method (Abbott). Our data indicate that the lidocaine plasma levels were significantly different: higher in the evening for the children or in the morning for the rats. The plasma level of the local anesthetics (LA) represents an elimination route and thus may be inversely correlated to the skin amount of the LA.

Temporal variations in transcutaneous passage of drugs : the example of lidocaine in children and in rats

Summary

A new regimen for postoperative analgesia after thoracic surgery is proposed. Eight children received an interpleural infusion using bupivacaine 0.1% in a regimen from 0.5 ml·kg−1·h−1 up to 1 ml·kg−1·h−1, for 48 h according to the pain scores. The plasma levels after 24 h and 48 h were measured as well as the pleural level and in two patients the free fraction of plasma bupivacaine and the plasma PPX (a metabolite of bupivacaine) and one patient the orosomucoid (main plasma protein involved in bupivacaine protein binding) were also measured pre and postoperatively. The results shows the safety of such a regimen, for two days of postoperative analgesia.

Elisabeth Giaufré

Papers

Epidemiology and morbidity of regional anesthesia in children : a follow-up one-year prospective survey of the French-Language Society of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists (ADARPEF)

Temporal variations in transcutaneous passage of drugs : the example of lidocaine in children and in rats

New regimen for interpleural block in children.