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Cardiac arrest during endotracheal intubation of children with systolic dysfunction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2022

Ivie D. Esangbedo*
Affiliation:
Section of Cardiac Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Priscilla Yu
Affiliation:
Division of Critical Care Medicine - Cardiac Intensive Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
Katie Brandewie
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Mohammad Ebraheem
Affiliation:
Congenital Heart Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Palo Alto, CA, USA
AKM Fazlur Rahman
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
Jonathan Byrnes
Affiliation:
Division of Cardiology, Cardiac Intensive Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Ivie D. Esangbedo, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Section of Cardiac Critical Care, University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, USA. E-mail: ivie.esangbedo@seattlechildrens.org
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Abstract

This multicenter study aimed to describe peri-intubation cardiac arrest in paediatric cardiac patients with significant (moderate or severe) systolic dysfunction of the systemic ventricle. Intubation data were collected from 4 paediatric cardiac ICUs in the United States (January 2015 – December 2017). Clinician practices during intubation of patients with significant dysfunction were compared to practices during intubation of patients without significant systolic dysfunction. There were 67 intubations in patients with significant systolic dysfunction. Peri-intubation cardiac arrest rate in this population was 14.9% (10/67); peri-intubation mortality was 3%. Majority (6/10; 60%) of the cardiac arrests were classified as pulseless electrical activity. Patients with cardiac arrest upon intubation had a higher serum lactate and lower serum pH than patients without peri-intubation cardiac arrest in the significant systolic dysfunction group.

In comparing cardiac ICU patients with significant systolic dysfunction (n = 67) to patients from the same time period with normal ventricular function or mild dysfunction (n = 183), clinicians were less likely to use midazolam (11.9% versus 25.1%; p = 0.03) and more likely to use etomidate (16.4% versus 4.4%; p = 0.002) for intubation. Use of other sedative agents, video laryngoscopy, atropine, inotrope initiation, and consultation of an anaesthesiologist for intubation were not statistically different between the groups.

This is the first study to describe the rate of and risk factors for peri-intubation cardiac arrest in paediatric cardiac ICU patients with systolic dysfunction. There was a higher peri-intubation cardiac arrest rate compared to published rates in critically ill children with heart disease and compared to children with significant systolic dysfunction undergoing elective general anaesthesia.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1. Flowchart showing sources and outcomes of intubation events occurring in patients with significant systolic dysfunction (n = 67). CICU, cardiac ICU. ROSC, return of spontaneous circulation. ROC, return of circulation. ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Figure 1

Table 1. Intubation events in paediatric cardiac patients with significant systolic dysfunction (n = 67). Data presented as n(%). Denominators provided if different from rest of column due to missing data

Figure 2

Table 2. Provider practices: Comparison of intubation events in cardiac ICU patients with moderate-severe dysfunction (n = 67) versus patients with normal function or mild dysfunction (n = 183). Data represented as n (%)

Supplementary material: PDF

Esangbedo et al. supplementary material

Table S2

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Supplementary material: PDF

Esangbedo et al. supplementary material

Table S1

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Supplementary material: PDF

Esangbedo et al. supplementary material

Table S3

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