FB is a safe and valuable diagnostic and therapeutic tool for patients in pediatric and neonatal ICUs.

Air leak syndrome includes pulmonary interstitial emphysema, pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium, pneumoperitoneum, subcutaneous emphysema, and systemic air embolism. The most common cause of air leak syndrome in neonates is inadequate mechanical ventilation of the fragile and immature lungs. The incidence of air leaks in newborns is inversely related to the birth weight of the infants, especially in very-low-birth-weight and meconium-aspirated infants. When the air leak is asymptomatic and the infant is not mechanically ventilated, there is usually no specific treatment. Emergent needle aspiration and/or tube drainage are necessary in managing tension pneumothorax or pneumopericardium with cardiac tamponade. To prevent air leak syndrome, gentle ventilation with low pressure, low tidal volume, low inspiratory time, high rate, and judicious use of positive end expiratory pressure are the keys to caring for mechanically ventilated infants. Both high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and high-frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) can provide adequate gas exchange using extremely low tidal volume and supraphysiologic rate in neonates with acute pulmonary dysfunction, and they are considered to have the potential to reduce the risks of air leak syndrome in neonates. However, there is still no conclusive evidence that HFOV or HFJV can help to reduce new air leaks in published neonatal clinical trials. In conclusion, neonatal air leaks may present as a thoracic emergency requiring emergent intervention. To prevent air leak syndrome, gentle ventilations are key to caring for ventilated infants. There is insufficient evidence showing the role of HFOV and HFJV in the prevention or reduction of new air leaks in newborn infants, so further investigation will be necessary for future applications.

The incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill children varies among countries. Here we used claims data from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance program from 2006 to 2010 to investigate the epidemiological features and identify factors that predispose individuals to developing AKI and mortality in critically ill children with AKI. Of 60,338 children in this nationwide cohort, AKI was identified in 850, yielding an average incidence rate of 1.4%. Significant independent risk factors for AKI were the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, mechanical ventilation or vasopressors, intrinsic renal diseases, sepsis, and age more than 1 year. Overall, of the AKI cases, 46.5% were due to sepsis, 36.1% underwent renal replacement therapy, and the mortality rate was 44.2%. Multivariate analysis showed that the use of vasopressors, mechanical ventilation, and hemato-oncological disorders were independent predictors of mortality in AKI patients. Thirty-two of the 474 patients who survived had progression to chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease. Thus, although not common, AKI in critically ill children still has a high mortality rate associated with a variety of factors. Long-term close follow-up to prevent progressive chronic kidney disease in survivors of critical illnesses with AKI is mandatory.

In this retrospective nationwide population-based case-control study, we investigated the impact of congenital heart disease (CHD) on the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which remains unclear. Children aged <18 years that were diagnosed with CHD (n = 3552) between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2009 were identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Non-CHD controls (n = 14,208) matched for age and sex (1:4) were selected from the same dataset. All subjects were observed until December 31, 2011 or their death. Comorbid perinatal conditions and early developmental disorders (EDD) that were diagnosed before ADHD and ASD diagnosis were also analyzed. The incidence rates of perinatal comorbidities, EDD, ADHD, and ASD were higher in the CHD group than in the control group. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the CHD group had an increased risk of developing ADHD (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 2.52, 95% confidence interval CI 1.96-3.25) and ASD (aHR 1.97, 95% CI 1.11-3.52) after adjusting for confounding comorbidities. EDD, but not perinatal comorbidities were also independent risk factors for ADHD and ASD after adjustment. Subgroup analysis indicated that the risk for ADHD (HR 16.59, 95% CI 12.17-22.60) and ASD (HR 80.68, 95% CI 39.96-176.12) was greatly increased in CHD subjects with EDD than in non-CHD subjects without EDD. These findings suggested that CHD at birth and EDD during early childhood were two independent risk factors for ADHD and ASD and that concurrent CHD and EDD might additively increase these risks.

BACKGROUNDCurrently, little information is available on childhood cancer incidence rates in Eastern Asia. The objective of this study was to report the first population-based cancer surveillance of children and adolescents in Taiwan.METHODSData from the Taiwan Cancer Registry were examined for cancer frequencies and incidence rates among individuals ages birth to 19 years from 1995 to 2009. Types of cancers were grouped according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer. Rates were compared by sex and age. For further comparisons with other countries, rates were age standardized to the 2000 world standard population in 5-year age groups. Trends in incidence rates also were evaluated.RESULTSIn total, 12,315 individuals were diagnosed with childhood cancers, for an age-standardized incidence rate (ASR) of 132.1 per million person-years from 1995 to 2009. The male-to-female incidence rate ratio was 1.19. Overall, leukemias were the most common cancer (ASR, 39.1 per million person-years), followed by central nervous system neoplasms (15.8 per million person-years), and lymphomas (15.3 per million person-years). During the 15-year study period, the incidence rates increased by 1% annually. Compared with other countries, the rate of hepatic tumors was 2 times greater in Taiwan. The rate of germ cell neoplasms in Taiwan was similar to that in the United States and was 1.3 to 1.9 times greater compared with Canada, Brazil, Israel, and Japan.CONCLUSIONSBased on the current data, the observed increase in overall incidence rates was attributable only marginally to improvements in case ascertainment and diagnostic procedures. The high rates of malignant hepatic tumors and germ cell neoplasms in Taiwan suggest variations in the background risk factors. Cancer 2014;120:3545–3553. © 2014 The Authors. Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Cancer Society.The authors examine cancer incidence patterns in children and adolescents based on a national, population-based cancer registry of 12,315 individuals in Taiwan from 1995 to 2009. The high rates of malignant hepatic tumors and germ cell neoplasms in Taiwan suggest variations in background risk factors.