Background and objectiveMultisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a postinfectious, generalized, hyperimmune state and is potentially lethal. There is scarce data on the clinical presentation and epidemiology of MIS-C in India. In light of this, we conducted this study to describe clinical presentations and outcomes in children diagnosed with MIS-C. MethodologyThis was a 15-month hospital-based prospective observational study conducted in the Departments of Pediatrics at Jagannath Hospital and Hitech Medical College, Bhubaneswar. The study included all patients diagnosed with MIS-C and treated at these hospitals between May 1, 2020, and August 31, 2021. The inclusion criteria were as follows: patients who were reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-positive, antibody-positive, or had known contact with those infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We reviewed patient medical records to collect demographic data such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), duration of illness, clinical symptomatology, findings of initial echocardiography, and outcomes. We followed each case for three months. We analyzed descriptive statistics using percentages and means and conducted the statistical analysis using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). ResultsA total of 30 cases were included in the study, consisting of 16 boys (53.3%) and 14 girls (46.7%). The mean age of the study population was 6.7 years, and 43% had a BMI in the overweight range. All patients (100%) had a fever, 66.7% had lethargy (n=20), and 64.3% (n=19) had abdominal symptoms in the form of vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Respiratory distress at admission was found in 16 cases (53.3%), while hypotension at admission was found in 18 (60%) cases. Our population's average duration of pediatric ICU stay was 3.7 ± 1.2 days, and the average duration of inotropy was 2.2 ± 0.5 days. Fifteen cases (50%) required only oxygen support; 10 (33%) required noninvasive ventilation, and only one patient required invasive ventilation. Twenty-two patients (74%) needed fluid boluses. Outcomes of coronary artery dilatations were favorable, regressing to normal (Z-score <2.5) in affected patients within 90 days of follow-up. ConclusionsMIS-C has myriad presenting signs, symptoms, and severity. It is often associated with circulatory failure or shock. However, most patients demonstrated good early outcomes, improved left ventricle (LV) function, normalization of coronary abnormalities, and no mortality. This study provides additional data on the clinical presentation of MIS-C and highlights the importance of close, long-term follow-up monitoring of this patient population.

Background: Neonatal Jaundice is the most common morbidity in the first week of life, occurring in 60% of term and 80% of preterm newborn. However, visual inspection, being subjective, usually inaccurate and unreliable and will result in a number of unnecessary blood sampling. Taking all these in to considerations, transcutaneous bilirubinometer (TCB) may provide a solution which is an objective, noninvasive, fast and painless method of bilirubin estimation.Methods: Transcutaneous bilirubinometer levels were measured at forehead and sternum and blood samples for TSB were collected by venepuncture within 30 minutes and sent to biochemistry lab. After getting serum bilirubin reports, TCB and TSB values were compared by using Bhutani’s hour specific nomogram. Results: The correlation between serum bilirubin and transcutaneous bilirubin measured at forehead and sternum is very good at serum bilirubin <15 mg/dl, r value (Karl Pearson’s Correlation co-efficient) is 0.93 and 0.94 respectively.Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicate that the TCB is a reliable screening tool for hyperbilirubinemia in newborns >35 weeks of gestation, especially with bilirubin levels ≤15 mg/dl in 2-7 days of life. TCB can be a viable option for universal screening. Incorporating the use of TCB devices in clinical practice, can reduce the need for blood sampling for the management of neonatal jaundice.

Background: Monitoring of tissue perfusion markers like lactate and its clearance is necessary for early recognition of shock in sick children which will enable the caregiver to initiate an appropriate and timely therapy. Objective: To study the blood lactate clearance at 24 hours of admission and its prognostic importance in predicting the outcomes in children with shock. Methods: This was a “prospective observational” study, conducted in NICU and PICU at Sparsh multispeciality hospital, Bhilai and Jagannath hospital, Bhubaneswar over 80 children presented with shock, from January 2018 to December 2020. Blood lactate level at admission and after 24 hours were evaluated and lactate clearance was compared with mortality. Results: In lactate clearance >20% group, mortality was only 3.8% wherein LC<20% group, mortality was 52.17%. In Lactate clearance < 10% group, inotropes (p0.0002), ventilator support (p-0.0015) were needed more than Lactate clearance > 20% group. When initial lactate >6mmol/dl, 35% of neonates died in comparison to 11.76% in the group having initial lactate <6mmol/dl. The average lactate clearance among the survivors was 28.35% and among the non-survivors was 5.73% (P <0.001). AUC between lactate clearance and mortality was 0.73 suggestive of a good correlation. Conclusion: Lactate clearance of less than 10% at 24 hours of admission showed a good correlation in predicting the mortality in children with shock.

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