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Hospitalized infants commonly receive opioids to reduce pain and minimize distress during invasive procedures. However, infant neurodevelopment is significantly impacted by cumulative and prolonged opioid exposures. While opioid conversion has been studied extensively in adults, no standardized equipotency opioid conversions exist for hospitalized infants and opioid stewardship efforts are inconsistent. We performed a systematic review to identify opioid dosing conversions commonly used in hospitalized infants <1 year of age, finding fourteen articles which documented or cited a calculation of cumulative opioid exposure. Morphine milligram equivalents (MME) conversion factors varied widely, with nine studies citing conversion equivalent equations commonly used in adults. Efforts to expand safe opioid stewardship to hospitalized infants will require evidence-based consensus for opioid equipotency dose conversions which acknowledge the unique physiology of infants., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Hospitalizations of high-risk infants are among the most expensive in the United States, with many requiring surgery and months of intensive care. Healthcare costs and resource use associated with hospitalized infant opioid exposure are less well known., Methods: A retrospective cohort of high-risk infants aged <1 y admitted from 47 children's hospitals from 2010 to 2020 was identified from Pediatric Healthcare Information System. High-risk infants were identified by International Classification of Diseases 9/10 codes for congenital heart disease procedures, medical and surgical necrotizing enterocolitis, extremely low birth weight, very low birth weight, hypoxemic ischemic encephalopathy, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and gastrointestinal tract malformations. Healthcare resource utilization was estimated using standardized unit costs (SUCs). The impact of opioid use on SUC was examined using general linear models and an instrumental variable., Results: Overall, 126,897 high-risk infants were identified. The cohort was majority White (57.1%), non-Hispanic (72.0%), and male (55.4%). Prematurity occurred in 26.4% and a majority underwent surgery (77.9%). Median SUC was $120,585 (interquartile range: $57,602-$276,562) per infant. On instrumental variable analysis, each day of opioid use was associated with an increase of $4406 in SUC. When adjusting for biologic sex, race, ethnicity, insurance type, diagnosis category, number of comorbidities, mechanical ventilation, and total parental nutrition use, each day of opioid use was associated with an increase of $2177 per infant., Conclusions: Prolonged opioid use is significantly associated with healthcare utilization and costs for high-risk infants, even when accounting for comorbidities, intensive care, ventilation, and total parental nutrition use. Future studies are needed to estimate the long-term complications and additional costs resulting from prolonged opioid exposures in high-risk infants., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Introduction: Pediatric surgical care is becoming increasingly regionalized, often resulting in limited access. Interfacility transfers pose a significant financial and emotional burden to when they are potentially avoidable. Of transferred patients, we sought to identify clinical factors associated with avoidable transfers in pediatric patients with suspected appendicitis., Methods: We performed a single-center retrospective study at an academic tertiary referral children's hospital in an urban setting. We included children who underwent interfacility transfer to our center with a transfer diagnosis of appendicitis from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023. Encounters were designated as either an appropriate transfer (underwent appendectomy) or an avoidable transfer (did not undergo appendectomy). Encounters treated nonoperatively for complicated appendicitis were excluded. Bivariate analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney test and chi-square tests., Results: A total of 444 patients were included: 71.2% were classified as appropriate transfers and 28.8% as avoidable transfers. Patients with avoidable transfer were younger compared to those in the appropriate transfer cohort (median age 9 y, interquartile range: 7-13 versus 11 y, interquartile range: 8-14; P < 0.001). Avoidable transfers less frequently presented with the typical symptoms of fever, migratory abdominal pain, anorexia, and nausea/emesis (P = 0.005). Avoidable transfers also reported shorter symptom duration (P = 0.040) with lower median white blood cell count (P < 0.001), neutrophil percentage (P < 0.001), and C-reactive protein levels (P < 0.003). Avoidable transfers more frequently underwent repeat imaging upon arrival (42.9% versus 12.7%, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of clinical history in children with suspected appendicitis. Younger patients without typical symptoms of appendicitis, those with a shorter duration of symptoms, and lower serum inflammatory markers may benefit from close observation without transfer., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Evidence suggests that coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) infection is associated with increased perioperative mortality in adults. We hypothesized that children with COVID-19 had worse outcomes after emergency surgery compared to children without COVID-19., Methods: Children <18 y who underwent emergency abdominal surgery were included in the 2021 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric database. Children with COVID-19 diagnosed preoperatively were identified. A propensity score-matched analysis was performed, matching demographic and clinical factors. Postoperative morbidity and mortality were assessed. Due to event rarity, a composite outcome for postoperative morbidity was also assessed. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests identified differences between groups. Logistic regression identified the odds of the composite morbidity outcome., Results: Overall, 13,619 children (median age 10.8 y, interquartile range: 6.4-14.2) underwent emergency abdominal surgery, of whom 224 (1.6%) had COVID-19. The majority were female (58.2%), White (61.3%), and non-Hispanic (53.4%). On unadjusted analysis, there was an association between COVID-19 status and American Society of Anesthesiologists classification (P < 0.01). A greater proportion of COVID-19-positive children had dirty/infected wounds (30.4% versus 22.2%, P < 0.01). Also, a greater proportion of COVID-19-positive children suffered cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation (1.3% versus 0.2%, P < 0.01). Matched cohorts of 224 COVID-19-positive and 224 COVID-19-negative children did not differ by demographic or clinical factors (P > 0.05). Propensity score matching did not reveal significant differences in postoperative morbidity or mortality. Children with COVID-19 did not demonstrate increased odds of morbidity analyzed as a composite outcome (odds ratio: 0.65, 95% confidence interval: 0.29-1.48, P = 0.31)., Conclusions: Contrary to findings in adults, COVID-19 was not associated with worse clinical outcomes in children undergoing emergency abdominal surgery., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: In 2015, the U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) implemented a quality metric to expedite surgery for testicular torsion (TT), but not ovarian torsion (OT). This study examined OR timing among children with suspected TT and OT before and after this metric., Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study of children (1-18yr) who underwent surgery for suspected gonadal torsion was performed. Time to OR (TTOR) from hospital presentation to surgery start was calculated. An interrupted time series analysis identified changes in TTOR for suspected TT versus OT after the 2015 USNWR quality metric., Results: Overall, 216 patients presented with TT and 120 with OT. Median TTOR for TT was 147 min (IQR:99-198) versus 462 min (IQR:308-606) for OT. Post-quality metric, children with TT experienced a 27.8 min decrease (95% CI:-51.7,-3.9, p = 0.05) in annual median TTOR. No significant decrease was observed for children with OT (p = 0.22). Children with history of a known ovarian mass (N = 62) experienced a shorter TTOR compared to those without (422 vs 499min; p = 0.04)., Conclusion: Implementation of a national quality metric for TT expedited surgical care for children with TT, but not children with OT. These findings highlight the need for equitable quality metrics for children presenting with suspected gonadal torsion., Level of Evidence: III., Type of Study: Retrospective Comparative Study, Observational Cohort Study., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Reliance on International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis codes may misclassify perforated appendicitis with resultant research, fiscal, and public health implications. We aimed to improve the accuracy of administrative data for perforated appendicitis classification relying on ICD-10-CM codes from 2015 to 2018., Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of randomly sampled patients aged ≤18 years diagnosed with acute appendicitis from eight children's hospitals. Patients were identified using the Pediatric Health Information System, and true perforation status was determined by medical record review. We developed two algorithms by leveraging Pediatric Health Information System data elements and data mining (DM) approaches. The two developed algorithm performance was compared against algorithms that exclusively relied on ICD-10-CM codes using area under the curve and other measures., Results: Of 1051 clinically validated encounters that were included, 383 (36.4%) patients were identified to have perforated appendicitis. The two algorithms developed using DM approaches primarily leveraged ICD-10-CM codes and length of stay. DM-developed algorithms had a significantly higher accuracy than algorithms relying exclusively on ICD-10-CM (P value < 0.01): sensitivity and specificity for DM-developed algorithms were 0.86-0.88 and 0.95-0.97, respectively, which were overall higher than algorithms that relied on only ICD-10-CM., Conclusions: This study provides an algorithm that can improve the accuracy of perforated appendicitis classification using commonly available elements in administrative data. We recommend that this algorithm is used in future appendicitis classification to ensure valid reporting, hospital-level benchmarking, and fiscal or public health assessments., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Gastrostomy creation is a common pediatric surgical procedure, but the time to initiation of feeds and to goal feeding volumes postoperatively varies greatly. Delays in reaching goal feeding volumes promote malnutrition and may prolong hospital length of stay. We hypothesized that implementing an accelerated, standardized post-gastrostomy feeding protocol would allow patients to reach goal feeding volumes sooner, without increasing postoperative complications., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children who underwent gastrostomy tube placement between 1/1/2022 and 11/30/2023. The feeding protocol was implemented on 11/16/2022, with patients separated into pre- and post-protocol cohorts. Abstracted data included comorbidities, time to initiation of enteral feeds, time to goal feeding volume, and postoperative complications., Results: 322 patients were included: 166 pre-protocol and 156 post-protocol. The post-protocol cohort had a greater proportion of patients with gastrointestinal and/or cardiac comorbidities ( P < .001). Through the protocol, postoperative enteral feeds were initiated significantly faster (5.4 hrs [IQR 43-7.7] vs 7.0 hrs [IQR 5.6-14.3]; P < .001). The post-protocol cohort also achieved goal feeding volumes sooner (12.8 hrs [IQR 9.1-25.3] vs 26.3 hrs [IQR 21.6-38.9]; P < .001). Postoperative complication rates did not differ between cohorts. Sub-analysis of children with complex cardiac conditions also demonstrated faster time to goal nutrition without an associated increase in postoperative events., Discussion: These findings demonstrate that our accelerated post-gastrostomy feeding protocol was effective in achieving goal enteral nutrition earlier without increasing postoperative adverse outcomes. This protocol may be used by other centers to safely expedite time to goal enteral feeds in children postoperatively., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: The minimum weight for enterostomy closure (EC) in infants remains debated with the current acceptable cut-off of >2 kg. As enterostomy-related complications or high enterostomy output (>30cc/kg/d) may prohibit a premature infant from reaching 2 kg, additional data is needed to evaluate the safety of EC in infants <2 kg. The objective of this study was to evaluate postoperative outcomes in low body weight (<2 kg) infants undergoing EC compared to larger infants., Methods: We performed a multi-center retrospective analysis from 1/1/2012-12/31/2022 of all infants (age <1 year) who were <4 kg at time of EC. Primary outcomes included postoperative complications and 30-day mortality. Non-parametric analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and chi-square tests. Univariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with postoperative complications., Results: Of 92 infants, 15 infants (16.3%) underwent EC at <2 kg, 16 (17.4%) at 2-2.49 kg, 31 (33.7%) at 2.5-2.99 kg, and 30 (32.6%) at ≥3 kg. Infants <2 kg at time of EC exhibited higher rates of hyperbilirubinemia ( P = .030), neurologic comorbidities ( P = .030), and high enterostomy output ( P = .041). There was no difference in postoperative complications ( P = .460) or 30-day mortality ( P = .460) between the <2 kg group and larger weight groups. Low body weight was not associated with an increased risk for developing a postoperative complication (OR: 1.001, 95% CI: 1.001-1.001; P = .032)., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that EC in infants <2 kg may be safe with comparable postoperative outcomes to larger weight infants. Thus, the timing of EC should be based on the infant's physiologic status, in contrast to a predetermined minimum weight cut-off., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background and Objectives: Sleep is essential for postoperative recovery. Prescription opioid can be associated with disordered sleep. There is little research on sleep patterns among adolescents using opioids for postoperative pain. Our objective was to identify factors associated with disordered sleep among adolescents undergoing surgery., Methods: Prospective single-center survey-based cohort study of adolescents (13-20y) undergoing eight surgeries commonly associated with an opioid prescription. Participants completed a preoperative survey measuring clinical, mental health, and sociodemographic factors, and postoperative surveys at 30- and 90-days. All surveys administered the Sleep Problems Questionnaire. Repeated measures logistic regression evaluated the impact of surgery on worsening postoperative sleep scores. Linear change model evaluated sleep score trajectories; Poisson regression identified the impact of preoperative disordered sleep on opioid use., Results: Overall, 167 adolescents (median 15y, 64% female) were included. Twenty-seven (16.2%) reported disordered sleep preoperatively and 41 (24.6%) postoperatively. Prescription opioid use was not associated with development of disordered sleep postoperatively (OR:1.33; 95% CI:0.38-4.68). Adolescents were 2.20 (95% CI:1.42-3.40) times more likely to report disordered sleep postoperatively. Preoperative disordered sleep, time after surgery, and mental health comorbidities were associated with worsening postoperative sleep score trajectories (p < 0.01). Adolescents with preoperative disordered sleep were not more likely to use opioids (OR:2.56, 95% CI:0.76-8.63, p = 0.13) nor did they use more pills (IRR:0.84, 95% CI:0.62-1.15, p = 0.27)., Conclusions: Adolescents were more likely to report disordered sleep postoperatively. Preoperative disordered sleep and mental health comorbidities, but not prescription opioid use, were associated with worsening sleep after surgery. Future efforts to improve adolescent postoperative sleep should address baseline disordered sleep and mental health comorbidities., Level of Evidence: Level II., Type of Study: Prospective cohort study., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest All authors reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) are distinct disease processes associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Initial treatment, laparotomy (LP) versus peritoneal drainage (PD), is disease specific however it can be difficult to distinguish these diagnoses preoperatively. We investigated clinical characteristics associated with each diagnosis and constructed a scoring algorithm for accurate preoperative diagnosis., Methods: A cohort of extreme and very low birth weight (<1500 g) neonates surgically treated for SIP or NEC between 07/2004-09/2022 were reviewed. Clinical characteristics included gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW), feeding history, physical exam, and laboratory/radiological findings. Intraoperative diagnosis was used to determine SIP vs NEC. Pre-drain diagnosis was used for patients treated with PD only., Results: 338 neonates were managed for SIP (n = 269, 79.6%) vs NEC (n = 69, 20.4%). PD was definitive treatment in 146 (43.2%) patients and 75 (22.2%) patients were treated with upfront LP. Characteristics associated with SIP included younger GA, younger age at initial laparotomy or drainage (ALD), and history of trophic or no feeds. Multivariate logistic regression determined pneumatosis, abdominal wall erythema, higher ALD and history of feeds to be highly predictive of NEC. A 0-8-point scale was designed based on these characteristics with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.819 (95% CI 0.756-0.882) for the diagnosis of NEC. A threshold score of 1.5 had a 95.2% specificity for NEC., Conclusion: Utilizing clinical characteristics associated with SIP & NEC we developed a scoring system designed to assist surgeons accurately distinguish SIP vs NEC in neonates., Type of Study: Retrospective Chart Review., Level of Evidence: Level III., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Appendicitis is one of the most common pediatric surgical procedures in the United States. However, wide variation remains in antibiotic prescribing and pain management across and within institutions. We aimed to minimize variation in antibiotic usage and decrease opioid prescribing at discharge for children with complicated appendicitis by implementation of a quality improvement (QI) initiative., Methods: On December 1st, 2021, a QI initiative standardizing postoperative care for complicated appendicitis was implemented across a tertiary pediatric healthcare system with two main surgical centers. QI initiative focused on antibiotic and pain management. An extensive literature search was performed and a total of 20 articles matching our patient population were critically appraised to determine the best evidence-based interventions to implement. Antibiotic regimen included: IV or PO ceftriaxone/metronidazole immediately post-operatively and transition to PO amoxicillin-clavulanic acid for completion of 7-day total course at discharge. Discharge pain control regimen included acetaminophen, ibuprofen, as needed gabapentin, and no opioid prescription. Guideline compliance were closely monitored for the first six months following implementation., Results: In the first 6-months post-implementation, compliance with use of ceftriaxone/metronidazole as initial post-operative antibiotics was 75.6 %. Transition to PO amoxicillin-clavulanic acid prior to discharge increased from 13.7 % pre-implementation to 73.7 % 6-months post-implementation (p < 0.001). Compliance with a 7-day course of antibiotics within the first 6-months post-implementation was 60 % across both sites. After QI intervention, overall opioid prescribing remained at 0 % at one surgical site and decreased from 17.6 % to 0 % at the second surgical site over the study timeframe (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Antibiotic use can be standardized and opioid prescribing minimized in children with complicated appendicitis using QI principles. Continued monitoring of the complicated appendicitis guideline is needed to assess for further progress in the standardization of post-operative care., Study Type: Quality improvement., Level of Evidence: Level III., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To compare rates of postoperative drainage and culture profiles in children with complicated appendicitis treated with the 2 most common antibiotic regimens with and without antipseudomonal activity [piperacillin-tazobactam (PT) and ceftriaxone with metronidazole (CM)]., Background: Variation in the use of antipseudomonal antibiotics has been driven by a paucity of multicenter data reporting clinically relevant, culture-based outcomes., Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients with complicated appendicitis (7/2015-6/2020) using NSQIP-Pediatric data from 15 hospitals participating in a regional research consortium. Operative report details, antibiotic utilization, and culture data were obtained through supplemental chart review. Rates of 30-day postoperative drainage and organism-specific culture positivity were compared between groups using mixed-effects regression to adjust for clustering after propensity matching on measures of disease severity., Results: In all, 1002 children met the criteria for matching (58.9% received CM and 41.1% received PT). In the matched sample of 778 patients, children treated with PT had similar rates of drainage overall [PT: 11.8%, CM: 12.1%; odds ratio (OR): 1.44 (OR: 0.71-2.94)] and higher rates of drainage associated with the growth of any organism [PT: 7.7%, CM: 4.6%; OR: 2.41 (95% CI: 1.08-5.39)] and Escherichia coli [PT: 4.6%, CM: 1.8%; OR: 3.42 (95% CI: 1.07-10.92)] compared to treatment with CM. Rates were similar between groups for drainage associated with multiple organisms [PT: 2.6%, CM: 1.5%; OR: 3.81 (95% CI: 0.96-15.08)] and Pseudomonas [PT: 1.0%, CM: 1.3%; OR: 3.42 (95% CI: 0.55-21.28)]., Conclusions and Relevance: The use of antipseudomonal antibiotics is not associated with lower rates of postoperative drainage procedures or more favorable culture profiles in children with complicated appendicitis., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Gangrenous, suppurative, and exudative (GSE) findings have been associated with increased surgical site infection (SSI) risk and resource use in children with nonperforated appendicitis. Establishing the role for postoperative antibiotics may have important implications for infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship., Objective: To compare SSI rates in children with nonperforated appendicitis with GSE findings who did and did not receive postoperative antibiotics., Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a retrospective cohort study using American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)-Pediatric Appendectomy Targeted data from 16 hospitals participating in a regional research consortium. NSQIP data were augmented with operative report and antibiotic use data obtained through supplemental medical record review. Children with nonperforated appendicitis with GSE findings who underwent appendectomy between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2020, were identified using previously validated intraoperative criteria. Data were analyzed from October 2022 to July 2023., Exposure: Continuation of antibiotics after appendectomy., Main Outcomes and Measures: Rate of 30-day postoperative SSI including both incisional and organ space infections. Complementary hospital and patient-level analyses were conducted to explore the association between postoperative antibiotic use and severity-adjusted outcomes. The hospital-level analysis explored the correlation between postoperative antibiotic use and observed to expected (O/E) SSI rate ratios after adjusting for differences in disease severity (presence of gangrene and postoperative length of stay) among hospital populations. In the patient-level analysis, propensity score matching was used to balance groups on disease severity, and outcomes were compared using mixed-effects logistic regression to adjust for hospital-level clustering., Results: A total of 958 children (mean [SD] age, 10.7 [3.7] years; 567 male [59.2%]) were included in the hospital-level analysis, of which 573 (59.8%) received postoperative antibiotics. No correlation was found between hospital-level SSI O/E ratios and postoperative antibiotic use when analyzed by either overall rate of use (hospital median, 53.6%; range, 31.6%-100%; Spearman ρ = -0.10; P = .71) or by postoperative antibiotic duration (hospital median, 1 day; range, 0-7 days; Spearman ρ = -0.07; P = .79). In the propensity-matched patient-level analysis including 404 patients, children who received postoperative antibiotics had similar rates of SSI compared with children who did not receive postoperative antibiotics (3 of 202 [1.5%] vs 4 of 202 [2.0%]; odds ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.16-3.39; P = .70)., Conclusions and Relevance: Use of postoperative antibiotics did not improve outcomes in children with nonperforated appendicitis with gangrenous, suppurative, or exudative findings.

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of preoperative and intraoperative diagnosis via comparison to pathologic diagnosis in spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) vs. necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)., Study Design: A retrospective review of neonates <1500 g treated for pneumoperitoneum between 07/2004-09/2022 was conducted. Patients treated for NEC medically prior to diagnosis and those treated with drain only were excluded. Fleiss' Kappa analysis assessed agreement between all three diagnoses: preoperative, intraoperative, and pathologic., Result: Overall, 125 patients were included with mean birthweight 834.2 g (SD:259.2) and mean gestational age 25.8 weeks (SD:2.2). Preoperative and intraoperative diagnoses agreed in 90.3%, intraoperative and pathologic agreed in 71.1%, and preoperative and pathologic agreed in 75.2% of patients. Fleiss' Kappa was 0.55 (95% CI:0.43,0.68), indicating moderate agreement between the three diagnoses., Conclusion: Our study shows moderate agreement between preoperative, intraoperative, and pathologic diagnoses. Further studies investigating the clinical characteristics of SIP and NEC are needed to improve diagnostic accuracy and management., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.)

Importance: High-risk infants, defined as newborns with substantial neonatal-perinatal morbidities, often undergo multiple procedures and require prolonged intubation, resulting in extended opioid exposure that is associated with poor outcomes. Understanding variation in opioid prescribing can inform quality improvement and best-practice initiatives., Objective: To examine regional and institutional variation in opioid prescribing, including short- and long-acting agents, in high-risk hospitalized infants., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study assessed high-risk infants younger than 1 year from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2022, at 47 children's hospitals participating in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS). The cohort was stratified by US Census region (Northeast, South, Midwest, and West). Variation in cumulative days of opioid exposure and methadone treatment was examined among institutions using a hierarchical generalized linear model. High-risk infants were identified by International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision codes for congenital heart disease surgery, medical and surgical necrotizing enterocolitis, extremely low birth weight, very low birth weight, hypoxemic ischemic encephalopathy, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and other abdominal surgery. Infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, in utero substance exposure, or malignant tumors were excluded., Exposure: Any opioid exposure and methadone treatment., Main Outcomes and Measures: Regional and institutional variations in opioid exposure., Results: Overall, 132 658 high-risk infants were identified (median [IQR] gestational age, 34 [28-38] weeks; 54.5% male). Prematurity occurred in 30.3%, and 55.3% underwent surgery. During hospitalization, 76.5% of high-risk infants were exposed to opioids and 7.9% received methadone. Median (IQR) length of any opioid exposure was 5 (2-12) cumulative days, and median (IQR) length of methadone treatment was 19 (7-46) cumulative days. There was significant hospital-level variation in opioid and methadone exposure and cumulative days of exposure within each US region. The computed intraclass correlation coefficient estimated that 16% of the variability in overall opioid prescribing and 20% of the variability in methadone treatment was attributed to the individual hospital., Conclusions and Relevance: In this retrospective cohort study of high-risk hospitalized infants, institution-level variation in overall opioid exposure and methadone treatment persisted across the US. These findings highlight the need for standardization of opioid prescribing in this vulnerable population.

Objective: To develop a severity-adjusted, hospital-level benchmarking comparative performance report for postoperative organ space infection and antibiotic utilization in children with complicated appendicitis., Background: No benchmarking data exist to aid hospitals in identifying and prioritizing opportunities for infection prevention or antimicrobial stewardship in children with complicated appendicitis., Methods: This was a multicenter cohort study using NSQIP-Pediatric data from 16 hospitals participating in a regional research consortium, augmented with antibiotic utilization data obtained through supplemental chart review. Children with complicated appendicitis who underwent appendectomy from 07/01/2015 to 06/30/2020 were included. Thirty-day postoperative OSI rates and cumulative antibiotic utilization were compared between hospitals using observed-to-expected (O/E) ratios after adjusting for disease severity using mixed effects models. Hospitals were considered outliers if the 95% confidence interval for O/E ratios did not include 1.0., Results: 1790 patients were included. Overall, the OSI rate was 15.6% (hospital range: 2.6-39.4%) and median cumulative antibiotic utilization was 9.0 days (range: 3.0-13.0). Across hospitals, adjusted O/E ratios ranged 5.7-fold for OSI (0.49-2.80, P=0.03) and 2.4-fold for antibiotic utilization (0.59-1.45, P<0.01). Three (19%) hospitals were outliers for OSI (1 high and 2 low performers), and eight (50%) were outliers for antibiotic utilization (5 high and 3 low utilizers). Ten (63%) hospitals were identified as outliers in one or both measures., Conclusions: A comparative performance benchmarking report may help hospitals identify and prioritize quality improvement opportunities for infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship, as well as identify exemplar performers for dissemination of best practices., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Historically, cholecystectomy is infrequently performed in children. Lifestyle changes, delays in healthcare access, and increases in childhood obesity occurred during the COVID-2019 pandemic. It is unclear whether these changes impacted pediatric gallbladder disease and the need for cholecystectomy., Methods: A retrospective study of children ≤18 years old undergoing cholecystectomy from January 1, 2016, to July 31, 2022, at a tertiary children's hospital was conducted. On March 19, 2020, a statewide mandatory coronavirus disease 2019 stay-at-home policy began. Differences in children undergoing cholecystectomy before and during the pandemic were identified using bivariate comparisons. An interrupted time series analysis identified differences in case volume trends., Results: Overall, 633 children were identified-293 pre-pandemic and 340 pandemic. A majority were female sex (76.3%) and Hispanic (67.5%), with a median age of 15 years (interquartile range: 13.0-16.0). Children who underwent cholecystectomy during the pandemic had significantly higher body mass index (28.4 versus 25.8, P = .002), and obesity (body mass index >30) was more common (45.3% versus 31.7%, P = .001). During the pandemic, significant increases in complicated biliary disease occurred-symptomatic cholelithiasis decreased (41.5% versus 61.8%, P < .001) and choledocholithiasis (17.9% versus 11.6%, P = .026), gallstone pancreatitis (17.4% versus 10.6%, P = .015), and chronic cholecystitis (4.7% versus 1.0%, P = .007) increased. The number of cholecystectomies performed per month increased during the pandemic, and on interrupted time series analysis, there was a significant increase in month-to-month case count during the pandemic (P = .003)., Conclusion: Cholecystectomy case volume significantly increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, possibly secondary to increases in childhood obesity. Future studies are needed to determine whether this increased frequency of pediatric cholecystectomy is representative of broader shifts in pediatric health and healthcare use after coronavirus disease 2019., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although the incidence of pediatric retained foreign objects (RFOs) during surgery is diminutive (1/32,000), RFOs are often the most common sentinel events reported. In 2021, our institution noted an increase in RFOs evidenced by a substantial decrease in days between events. We aimed to minimize the incidence of RFO which was measured as an increase of days between events at our institution by implementation of a Quality Improvement initiative., Study Design: This effort was conducted across 4 surgical centers within a tertiary children's healthcare system in December 2021. Patients undergoing surgery within this healthcare system across all surgical specialties were included. The quality improvement initiative was developed by a multidisciplinary team and included 6 steps focusing on quiet time, minimizing interruptions, and closed-loop communication during final surgical count. Seven Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were used to test, refine, and implement the protocol. Adherence to the final surgical count protocol was monitored throughout the study period., Results: In 2021, before protocol implementation, average time between RFO events was 29 days. After implementation of our quality initiative, the final surgical count protocol, we improved to 451 days between RFO events by February 2023, exceeding the upper control limit (235 days). After implementation, the number of RFO events dropped from 7 in 2021 to 0 in 2022. Adherence to the final surgical count protocol implementation was 96.4% by the end of cycle 7., Conclusions: RFOs during pediatric surgical procedures can be successfully reduced using quality improvement methodology focusing on standardizing the procedure of the final surgical count., (Copyright © 2023 by the American College of Surgeons. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Parents frequently report retaining unused opioid pills following their child's surgery due to fear of untreated postoperative pain. Assessment of pain in adolescents with neurocognitive disability is challenging. We hypothesized that parents of adolescents with neurocognitive disability may report less opioid use and higher opioid pill retention., Methods: Adolescents (13-20 y) undergoing elective surgery (posterior spinal fusion, hip reconstruction, arthroscopy, tonsillectomy) were prospectively enrolled from a tertiary children's hospital from 2019 to 2020. Only adolescents prescribed opioids at discharge were included. Parents completed a preoperative survey collecting sociodemographic characteristics and two postoperative surveys at 30- and 90-d. Neurocognitive disability was determined at time of enrollment by caregiver report, and included adolescents with cerebral palsy, severe autism spectrum disorder, and discrete syndromes with severe neurocognitive disability., Results: Of 125 parent-adolescent dyads enrolled, 14 had neurocognitive disability. The median number of opioid pills prescribed at discharge did not differ by neurocognitive disability (29, interquartile range {IQR}: 20.0-33.3 versus 30, IQR: 25.0-40.0, P = 0.180). Parents of both groups reported similar cumulative days of opioid use (7.0, IQR: 3.0-21.0 versus 6.0, IQR:3.0-10.0, P = 0.515) and similar number of opioid pills used (4, IQR: 2.0-4.5 versus 12, IQR: 3.5-22.5, P = 0.083). Parents of both groups reported similar numbers of unused opioid pills (17, IQR: 12.5-22.5 versus 19, IQR: 8.0-29.0, P = 0.905) and rates of retention of unused opioids (15.4% versus 23.8%, P = 0.730)., Conclusions: The number of opioid pills prescribed did not differ by neurocognitive disability and parents reported similar opioid use and retention of unused opioid pills. Larger studies are needed to identify opportunities to improve postoperative pain control for children with neurocognitive disability., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate whether redosing antibiotics within an hour of incision is associated with a reduction in incisional surgical site infection (iSSI) in children with appendicitis., Background: Existing data remain conflicting as to whether children with appendicitis receiving antibiotics at diagnosis benefit from antibiotic redosing before incision., Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective cohort study using data from the Pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program augmented with antibiotic utilization and operative report data obtained though supplemental chart review. Children undergoing appendectomy at 14 hospitals participating in the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network from July 2016 to June 2020 who received antibiotics upon diagnosis of appendicitis between 1 and 6 hours before incision were included. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare odds of iSSI in those who were and were not redosed with antibiotics within 1 hour of incision, adjusting for patient demographics, disease severity, antibiotic agents, and hospital-level clustering of events., Results: A total of 3533 children from 14 hospitals were included. Overall, 46.5% were redosed (hospital range: 1.8%-94.4%, P <0.001) and iSSI rates were similar between groups [redosed: 1.2% vs non-redosed: 1.3%; odds ratio (OR) 0.84, (95%,CI, 0.39-1.83)]. In subgroup analyses, redosing was associated with lower iSSI rates when cefoxitin was used as the initial antibiotic (redosed: 1.0% vs nonredosed: 2.5%; OR: 0.38, (95% CI, 0.17-0.84)], but no benefit was found with other antibiotic regimens, longer periods between initial antibiotic administration and incision, or with increased disease severity., Conclusions: Redosing of antibiotics within 1 hour of incision in children who received their initial dose within 6 hours of incision was not associated with reduction in risk of incisional site infection unless cefoxitin was used as the initial antibiotic., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Chance fracture (CFx) with concomitant intra-abdominal injury has variable occurrence rates ranging from 33 to 89%. No single study has compared the incidence of simultaneous abdominal injury between pediatric and adult populations. This study compares the rate of simultaneous intra-abdominal injury and chance fracture in these populations., Methods: A retrospective review of pediatric and adult patients with chance fracture in comparable pediatric and adult trauma centers was performed. Patient demographics, mechanism of injury (MOI), and injury patterns were collected from 2002 to 2019 for pediatric patients and 2015 to 2018 for adults. Student t-test analyses were performed to determine statistical significance between the cohorts., Results: The pediatric group had a similar incidence of abdominal solid organ injuries compared to adults (16 [20.5%] vs. 40 [19.7%], p<0.879), but the pediatric group had a greater number of total intra-abdominal (49 [62.8%] vs. 47 [23.1%], p < 0.001) and hollow organ injuries (40 [51.3%] vs. 17 [8.4%], p < 0.001). Motor vehicle collision was the most common mechanism of injury for both groups (72 pediatric [92.3%] vs. 85 adult [41.7%]) but adults suffered from more falls (3 pediatric vs. 81 adult, p < 0.001). Pediatric patients with CFx caused by MVCs had more intra-abdominal injuries (48 [66.7%] vs. 25[29.8%], p < 0.001) and hollow organ injuries compared to adults (39 [54.2%] vs. 8[9.5%], p < 0.001)., Conclusion: In the setting of Chance fracture after trauma, pediatric patients are more likely to have a concomitant intra-abdominal organ injury (63% vs. 23%), especially hollow viscus injury (51.3% vs. 8.4%) compared with adults regardless of mechanism.

Importance: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) requiring surgical intervention is the most common reason for surgical procedures in preterm neonates. Opioids are used to manage postoperative pain, with some infants requiring methadone to treat physiologic opioid dependence or wean from nonmethadone opioid treatment during recovery., Objective: To describe postoperative opioid use and methadone treatment for infants with surgically treated NEC and evaluate postoperative outcomes., Design, Setting, and Participants: A cohort study of infants with surgically treated NEC admitted from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2022, to 48 Children's Hospital Association hospitals contributing data to the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) was performed. Infants who received methadone preoperatively, were aged 14 days or less at the time of the operation, had a congenital heart disease-related operation, or died within 90 days of the operation were excluded. Mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate thresholds for duration of opioid use after the operation associated with methadone treatment and clinical outcomes associated with methadone use were enumerated., Exposure: Postoperative administration of nonmethadone opioids., Main Outcomes and Measures: Methadone use and postoperative length of stay, ventilator days, and total parenteral nutrition (TPN) days., Results: Of the 2037 infants with surgically treated NEC identified, the median birth weight was 920 (IQR, 700.0-1479.5) g; 1204 were male (59.1%), 911 were White (44.7%), and 343 were Hispanic (16.8%). Infants received nonmethadone opioids for a median of 15 (IQR, 6-30) days after the operation and 231 received methadone (11.3%). The median first day of methadone use was postoperative day 18 (IQR, days 9-64) and continued for 28 days (IQR, 14-73). Compared with infants who received nonmethadone opioids for 1 to 5 days, infants receiving 16 to 21 days of opioids were most likely to receive methadone treatment (odds ratio, 11.45; 95% CI, 6.31-20.77). Methadone use was associated with 21.41 (95% CI, 10.81-32.02) more days of postoperative length of stay, 10.80 (95% CI, 3.63-17.98) more ventilator days, and 16.21 (95% CI, 6.34-26.10) more TPN days., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of infants with surgically treated NEC, prolonged use of nonmethadone opioids after the operation was associated with an increased likelihood of methadone treatment and increased postoperative length of stay, ventilation, and TPN use. Optimizing postoperative pain management for infants requiring an operation may decrease the need for methadone treatment and improve health care use.

Background: The objective was to explore the hospital-level relationship between routine pre-discharge WBC utilization (RPD-WBC) and outcomes in children with complicated appendicitis., Methods: Multicenter analysis of NSQIP-Pediatric data from 14 consortium hospitals augmented with RPD-WBC data. WBC were considered routine if obtained within one day of discharge in children who did not develop an organ space infection (OSI) or fever during the index admission. Hospital-level observed-to-expected ratios (O/E) for 30-day outcomes (antibiotic days, imaging utilization, healthcare days, and OSI) were calculated after adjusting for appendicitis severity and patient characteristics. Spearman correlation was used to explore the relationship between hospital-level RPD-WBC utilization and O/E's for each outcome., Results: 1528 children were included. Significant variation was found across hospitals in RPD-WBC use (range: 0.7-100%; p < 0.01) and all outcomes (mean antibiotic days: 9.9 [O/E range: 0.56-1.44, p < 0.01]; imaging: 21.9% [O/E range: 0.40-2.75, p < 0.01]; mean healthcare visit days: 5.7 [O/E 0.74-1.27, p < 0.01]); OSI: 14.1% [O/E range: 0.43-3.64, p < 0.01]). No correlation was found between RPD-WBC use and antibiotic days (r = +0.14, p = 0.64), imaging (r = -0.07, p = 0.82), healthcare days (r = +0.35, p = 0.23) or OSI (r = -0.13, p = 0.65)., Conclusions: Increased RPD-WBC utilization in pediatric complicated appendicitis did not correlate with improved outcomes or resource utilization at the hospital level., Level of Evidence: III., Type of Study: Clinical Research., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Broad changes in pediatric surgical care delivery are limited by the rarity of pediatric surgical diseases and the geographic dispersion of pediatric surgical care across different hospital types. Pediatric surgical collaboratives and consortiums can provide the patient sample size, research resources, and infrastructure to advance clinical care for children with who require surgery. Additionally, collaboratives can bring together experts and exemplar institutions to overcome barriers to pediatric surgical research to advance quality surgical care. Despite challenges to collaboration, many successful pediatric surgical collaboratives emerged in the last decade and continue to push the field forward towards high-quality, evidence-based care and improved outcomes. This review will discuss the need for continued research and quality improvement collaboratives in pediatric surgery, identify challenges faced when building collaboratives, and introduce future directions to expand impact., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objectives: Transient hypocalcemia is a common complication after pediatric total thyroidectomy, while permanent hypoparathyroidism (PH) is relatively uncommon. To date there is no model to predict which patients will develop PH based on post-operative makers. We aim to identify pediatric patients who are at high risk of PH following thyroidectomy based on 6 h post-operative parathyroid hormone (PTH) value., Methods: A retrospective review of 122 pediatric patients undergoing total thyroidectomy between 2016 and 2022 following implementation of a multidisciplinary team was performed. Outcome of interest was permanent hypoparathyroidism, defined as need for calcium supplementation at 6 months postoperatively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine PTH value at 6 h post-operative that was predictive of permanent hypoparathyroidism., Results: Rates of permanent hypoparathyroidism reported are similar to those described in the literature with 12 patients (10.9%) developing PH. In patients who developed PH, mean 6 h postoperative PTH was 5.12 pg/mL. Mean 6 h postoperative PTH level in those who did not develop PH was 31.34 pg/mL (p<0.0001). The 6 h post-operative PTH value predictive for PH was ≤11.3 pg/mL. PTH cutoff of ≤11.3 pg/mL had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 72.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 27.0%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 100%., Conclusions: 6 h postoperative PTH values were found to be predictive of permanent hypoparathyroidism in pediatric total thyroidectomy: a 6 h postoperative PTH level of >11.3 pg/mL excludes permanent hypoparathyroidism, but if PTH is ≤11.3 pg/mL at 6 h, approximately 1/3 of patients may persist with permanent hypoparathyroidism., (© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Purpose: Pediatric total thyroidectomy is an uncommon procedure. Higher rates of complication are reported for pediatric patients compared to adults which may be secondary to lower case volume. In this study, we examine the effect of a two-surgeon operative approach on outcomes in pediatric total thyroidectomy., Methods: A retrospective review of 152 pediatric patients undergoing total thyroidectomy at a single institution was performed. A control group of 89 patients, with one attending surgeon present, was compared to a cohort of 63 pediatric patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with two attendings present. Primary outcomes included rates of permanent hypoparathyroidism and recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury. The secondary outcomes included postoperative hematoma, length of stay (LOS), LOS greater than 1 day (>1d) secondary to hypocalcemia, and readmissions secondary to hypocalcemia., Results: One RLN injury was documented in each cohort and no postoperative hematomas were documented. Rates of permanent hypoparathyroidism decreased in the two-surgeon cohort (11.48%) when compared to the control group (15.73%) but was not significant. There was a statistically significant decrease in LOS >1d secondary to hypocalcemia in the two-surgeon cohort. LOS >1d attributable to hypocalcemia was seen in 38.2% in the control group versus 15.87% in the 2-surgeon cohort (p = 0.003)., Conclusions: Implementation of a two-surgeon operative approach was shown to lead to a significant decrease in length of stay >1d attributable to hypocalcemia. However, this change was in the setting of multidisciplinary thyroid team and postoperative protocol implementation, and concentration of surgeons performing the operation. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of the two-surgeon operative approach further., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Enhanced recovery protocols [ERPs] standardize care and have been demonstrated to improve surgical quality in adults. We retrospectively compared outcomes before and after implementation of ERPs in children undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy [ELC] surgery., Methods: A pediatric-specific ERP was implemented for children undergoing ELC at one [C1] of the two Pediatric Surgical Centers in July 2016. We retrospectively reviewed 606 patients undergoing ELC between July 2014 and December 2019. Of these, 206 patients underwent ELC prior to ERP implementation [Pre-ERP] were compared to 400 patients undergoing ELC managed in the post-ERP implementation period (between January 2017 and December 2019), 21 of which were managed by enhanced recovery protocol. Primary Outcomes included immediate peri-operative and post-operative narcotic use in mean morphine equivalents [MME], narcotics at discharge, complications, nurse calls and returns to system [RTS]., Results: There was a significant decrease in opioid use both post-operatively and at time of discharge in the ERP managed cohort. The MME use during the post-operative period was 0.85 in the in ERP-compliant patients compared to 6.40 in the non-compliant group (p < 0.027). Eighty-six percent of ERP-compliant patients in the study required no narcotics at discharge, which was statistically significant when compared to ERP non-compliant cohort (p < 0.0001). There was also no change in RTS, nurse calls or complications. In addition, in the post-ERP period (2017-2019), a dominant proportion of patients at C1 partially complied with the ERP, resulting in a statistically significantly decrease of opioid use between sites in the post-op period (6.54 vs 10.57 MME) post-ERP (p < 0.001). Similar effects were noted in discharge narcotics., Conclusion: The use of pediatric-specific ERP in children undergoing ELC is safe, effective, and provides compassionate pain control while leading to a reduction in opioid use peri-operatively and at discharge. This improvement occurred without changes in RTS, nursing calls or complications., Level of Evidence: Level III; Retrospective study., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Importance: The clinical significance of gangrenous, suppurative, or exudative (GSE) findings is poorly characterized in children with nonperforated appendicitis., Objective: To evaluate whether GSE findings in children with nonperforated appendicitis are associated with increased risk of surgical site infections and resource utilization., Design, Setting, and Participants: This multicenter cohort study used data from the Appendectomy Targeted Database of the American College of Surgeons Pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, which were augmented with operative report data obtained by supplemental medical record review. Data were obtained from 15 hospitals participating in the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network (EPSN) research consortium. The study cohort comprised children (aged ≤18 years) with nonperforated appendicitis who underwent appendectomy from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2020., Exposures: The presence of GSE findings was established through standardized, keyword-based audits of operative reports by EPSN surgeons. Interrater agreement for the presence or absence of GSE findings was evaluated in a random sample of 900 operative reports., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative surgical site infections (incisional and organ space infections). Secondary outcomes included rates of hospital revisits, postoperative abdominal imaging, and postoperative length of stay. Multivariable mixed-effects regression was used to adjust measures of association for patient characteristics and clustering within hospitals., Results: Among 6133 children with nonperforated appendicitis, 867 (14.1%) had GSE findings identified from operative report review (hospital range, 4.2%-30.2%; P < .001). Reviewers agreed on presence or absence of GSE findings in 93.3% of cases (weighted κ, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.86-0.92). In multivariable analysis, GSE findings were associated with increased odds of any surgical site infection (4.3% vs 2.2%; odds ratio [OR], 1.91; 95% CI, 1.35-2.71; P < .001), organ space infection (2.8% vs 1.1%; OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.30-3.67; P = .003), postoperative imaging (5.8% vs 3.7%; OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.23-2.36; P = .002), and prolonged mean postoperative length of stay (1.6 vs 0.9 days; rate ratio, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.32-1.54; P < .001)., Conclusions and Relevance: In children with nonperforated appendicitis, findings of gangrene, suppuration, or exudate are associated with increased surgical site infections and resource utilization. Further investigation is needed to establish the role and duration of postoperative antibiotics and inpatient management to optimize outcomes in this cohort of children.

Background: Enhanced recovery protocols (ERPs) are effective means of standardizing and improving the quality of surgical care in adults. Our purpose was to retrospectively compare outcomes before and after implementation of ERPs in children undergoing laparoscopic Heller myotomy for achalasia., Methods: A pediatric-specific ERP was used for children undergoing laparoscopic Heller myotomy starting July 2017 at two pediatric surgery centers within a single metropolitan healthcare system. A retrospective review of 8 patients undergoing Heller myotomies between July 2014 and July 2017 was performed as a control. This cohort was compared to 14 patients managed post-ERP implementation (2017-2020). Outcomes of interest investigated included opioid use during admission, narcotics at discharge, time to regular diet, length of stay (LOS), and readmissions., Results: There was a significant decrease in opioid use both while in the hospital and at time of discharge. Mean morphine equivalent use was 4.50 mg in the pre-ERP cohort and 1.97 mg in the post-ERP cohort. Furthermore, 8 out of 14 (57%) patients in the post-ERP cohort received no opioids during the admission compared with only 2 out of 8 (25%) patients in the pre-ERP cohort. Only 1 out of 14 (7.14%) patients in the post-ERP cohort was discharged with a prescription for opioid medication while 6 out of 8 (75%) in the pre-ERP cohort were discharged with an opiate prescription., Conclusions: The use of ERP in children undergoing laparoscopic Heller myotomy surgery is safe and effective and leads to a reduction in opioid use during admission and at discharge., Levels of Evidence: Level III., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest There are no conflicts of interests declared for any of the authors., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects about 475,000 children in the United States annually. Studies from the 1990s showed worse mortality in pediatric TBI patients not transferred to a pediatric trauma center (PTC), but did not examine mild pediatric TBI. Evidence-based guidelines used to identify children with clinically insignificant TBI who do not require head CT were developed by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). However, which patients can be safely observed at a non-PTC is not directly addressed., Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted, focusing on management of pediatric TBI and transfer decisions from 1990 to 2020., Results: Pediatric TBI patients make up a great majority of preventable transfers and admissions, and comprise a significant portion of avoidable costs to the health care system. Majority of mild TBI patients admitted to a PTC following transfer do not require ICU care, surgical intervention, or additional imaging. Studies have shown that as high as 83% of mild pediatric TBI patients are discharged within 24 hrs., Conclusions: An evidence-based clinical practice algorithm was derived through synthesis of the data reviewed to guide transfer decision. The papers discussed in our systematic review largely concluded that transfer and admission was unnecessary and costly in pediatric patients with mild TBI who met the following criteria: blunt, no concern for NAT, low risk on PECARN assessment, or intermediate risk on PECARN with negative imaging or imaging with either isolated, nondisplaced skull fractures without ICH and/or EDH, or SDH <0.3 cm with no midline shift.