The fluid management and hemodynamic characteristics of PiCCO employed on young children with severe hand, foot, and mouth disease—a retrospective study

Abstract Background Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is an acute infectious disease caused by human enterovirus 71 (EV71), coxsackievirus, or echovirus, which is particularly common in preschool children. Severe HFMD is prone to cause pulmonary edema before progressing to respiratory and circulatory failure; thus hemodynamic monitoring and fluid management are important to the treatment process. Methods We did a review of young patients who had been successfully treated in our department for severe HFMD, which had been caused by EV71. A total of 20 patients met the inclusion criteria. Eight cases were monitored by the pulse indicator continuous cardiac output (PiCCO) technique, and fluid management was administered according to its parameters. With regard to the treatment with PiCCO monitoring, patients were divided into two groups: the PiCCO group (8 patients) and the control group (12 patients). The groups were then compared comprehensively to evaluate whether PiCCO monitoring could improve patients’ clinical outcomes. Results After analysis, the findings informed that although PiCCO failed to shorten the length of ICU stay, reduce the days of vasoactive drug usage, or lower the number of cases which required mechanical ventilation, PiCCO did reduce the incidence of fluid overload (p = 0.085) and shorten the days of mechanical ventilation (p = 0.028). After effective treatment, PiCCO monitoring indicated that the cardiac index (CI) increased gradually(p