Diseases of the upper respiratory tract
Pearls • There are distinct differences in the pediatric and adult airway, including the fact that the infant airway is situated higher in the neck (between the second and fourth…
Tests of kidney function in children
Pearls • Serum creatinine is a crude assessment of filtration, influenced by several factors other than glomerular function, including gender, age, muscle mass, dilution, concentration relative to steady state, lack…
Performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in infants and children
Pearls • There are four distinct phases of cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): prearrest, no-flow (untreated cardiac arrest), low-flow (CPR), and postarrest. • The most common precipitating event for…
Renal pharmacology
Pearls • The kidney is the primary elimination pathway for the majority of medications. Thus, understanding appropriate dosing for patients in acute and chronic renal impairment is imperative to avoid…
Biology of the stress response
Pearls • The stress response is a universal, stereotypical, and integrated neurogenic, endocrine, inflammatory, and metabolic systems response with multiple feed-forward and feed-backward modulation signaling designed to maximize host survival….
Progress towards precision medicine in critical illness
Pearls • The goal of precision medicine in the context of critical care is for treatment strategies to be developed that take into account the variability seen between individuals. •…
Pediatric renal transplantation
Pearls • Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for children with end-stage renal disease; children have high priority in the deceased donor allocation policy. • Upon arrival in the…
Mechanical ventilation and respiratory care
Pearls • Modern respiratory care requires a major institutional commitment in resource allocation for state-of the-art management of the pediatric patient requiring mechanical ventilation. • A comprehensive and unified approach…
Structure, function, and development of the nervous system
Pearls • In humans, general central nervous system anatomy is established by birth. However, the brain undergoes substantial postnatal development, including changes in synaptic density and dendritic arborization, maturation of…
Neurologic assessment and monitoring
Pearls • Much of the practice of brain-directed critical care in children is empiric, but studies in traumatic brain injury show that protocol-directed care with multidisciplinary teams in the intensive…
