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Research

Peri-operative respiratory adverse events remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children undergoing general anaesthesia; those with asthma are at higher risk. The aim of this feasibility study was to determine whether pre-operative measurements of fractional exhaled nitric oxide and the forced oscillation technique are feasible in children, and to explore whether these measurements can predict peri-operative respiratory adverse events.

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Lidocaine is widely used in pediatric anesthesia for airway topicalization to modulate undesirable airway and circulatory reflexes, yet its effectiveness remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to perform a meta-analysis evaluating the impact of topical lidocaine on respiratory adverse events in children undergoing airway management.

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Little evidence exists on the postoperative trajectory after paediatric orthopaedic surgery. Pain and behavioural disturbance can have short- and long-term impacts on children and their families. An improved understanding of procedure-specific postoperative trajectories can enhance recovery. The primary outcome was to examine the duration and severity of postoperative pain experienced by children undergoing 10 commonly performed orthopaedic procedures.

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Paediatric patients continue to lack access to age-appropriate oral medicines for their treatment and have to depend on the off-label use of medicines approved for adults, which compromises dosing accuracy and exposes children to unpleasant bitterness. 

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Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has been thought to increase the risk of respiratory depression from opioids. The primary aim of this study was to assess whether preoperative hypoxaemia by sleep study pulse oximetry imparts greater opioid sensitivity.

Research

Pain is a common experience associated with healthcare for children, who often recall it as the worst part of hospitalisation. Several factors make assessment of pain more challenging in children. Families have previously identified the development of improved tools to assess pain in children as a key priority. We therefore sough to investigate the nature of this experience from the perspective of children and their parents to inform the development of such tools.

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Children experience significant pain following extracapsular tonsillectomy surgery, and while opioids are often prescribed to treat this, clinicians may be wary of their adverse side effects, leading to variation in practice. There is a need for improved post-tonsillectomy pain management in children. 

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Processed electroencephalography (EEG) indices used to guide anesthetic dosing in adults are not validated in young infants. Raw EEG can be processed mathematically, yielding quantitative EEG parameters (qEEG). We hypothesized that machine learning combined with qEEG can accurately classify expired sevoflurane concentrations in young infants. Knowledge from this may contribute to development of future infant-specific EEG algorithms.

Research

The current research landscape has become increasingly competitive with approximately 35% of submitted manuscripts accepted for publication by peer-review journals. It is known that studies with certain 'favourable characteristics' have an increased likelihood of acceptance for publication, such as prospective study design, multiple sites, and notable authors.

Research

Postoperative nausea and vomiting is common after general anesthesia, with consequences for patient outcomes, satisfaction with care, and healthcare costs. The aim was to compare a new treatment, chewing gum, with a widely used intravenous agent, ondansetron, to treat postoperative nausea and vomiting in female patients in the postanesthesia care unit.