SARS-CoV-2 infection in children results in a wide range of clinical outcomes. Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19(PIMS-TS) occurs weeks after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, and results in severe illness. This protocol describes a study to fully characterize the circulating proteome of children who have PIMS-TS, the proteome of healthy children who have previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the proteome of febrile children with a confirmed invasive infection. Orthogonal proteomic techniques will be utilized to provide a deep proteomic characterization

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IntroductionYoung febrile infants are at higher risk of invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) compared with older children. The clinical features of IBI are subtle in this cohort mandating that clinicians take a cautious approach to their initial assessment and management. This includes the measurement of blood biomarkers of infection such as C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT). In the UK, PCT is not widely available and not recommended for routine use in hospital. This is in contrast to Europe and the USA where PCT is regularly used to assist clinical decision-making. The objective of this review and meta-analysis is to report the diagnostic test accuracy of PCT in detecting IBI in febrile infants less than 91 days old, compare its accuracy with CRP and define optimal PCT cut-off values in this cohort.Methods and analysisA search strategy will include MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and grey literature. There will be no language or date limitations. Diagnostic accuracy studies compliant with STARD criteria will be considered against eligibility criteria. Abstracts, then full texts, of potentially eligible studies will be independently screened for selection. Data extraction and quality assessment, using the QUADAS-2 tool, will be completed by two independent authors and a third author used for any inconsistencies. True positives, false positives, true negatives and false negatives will be pooled to collate specificity and sensitivity with 95% CIs. Results will be portrayed in forest plots, alongside their quality assessments.Ethics and disseminationThis review does not require ethical clearance. This review will be published in peer-reviewed journals and key messages will be disseminated through presentations at local and international conferences related to this field. The authors aim for this review to be completed and published in 2023.

A 13-year-old boy with neurofibromatosis type 1 presented to the emergency department twice in a fortnight with moderate intermittent abdominal pain, radiating to the back and associated with nausea and vomiting. He examined as a well child with a soft abdomen and minimal tenderness. A history of constipation was identified but he failed to respond to a trial of laxatives. Subsequent ultrasound abdomen demonstrated a large mass surrounding the porta hepatis. MRI further characterised a focal, non-aggressive lesion extending from his liver, encapsulating his pancreas, portal vessels and laterally displacing his spleen and left kidney. Biopsy performed at a specialist cancer treatment hospital of our reference later confirmed this to be a benign neurofibroma of a size not previously reported in the literature. He will be managed conservatively with surveillance imaging and the potential for chemotherapy should the lesion continue to grow.

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