Utility of the Color-Coded Duplex Neurosonographic Spectrum in Critically Ill Children in Resource-Limited Centers: A Case Series

Ultrasound in pediatric neurocritical care has a wide variety of indications, such as the study of vasospasm in subarachnoid hemorrhage, flow changes in intracranial stenosis, endocranial hypertension and to evaluate some therapeutic measures. The following is a series of five most relevant cases collected from Pediatric Intensive Care with abnormal images in transcranial duplex (TCD) and their typical findings in this type of studies. Transcranial duplex offers a diagnostic method of rapid evaluation that provides reliable information for decision making in pediatric intensive care, but it is a tool with which there is little experience in the country, so these findings are didactic and should be complemented with studies of greater diagnostic relevance.

Automated Infrared Pupillometer Use in Assessing the Neurological Status in Pediatric Neurocritical Care Patients: Case Reports and Literature Review

Automated infrared pupillometry (AIP) is rapidly becoming an accepted standard for the evaluation of pupil size and reactivity in adult neurocritical care. Recently, pediatric centers are increasingly utilizing this technology, but data supporting its use in children are limited. Our pediatric intensive care unit instituted AIP as a standard of care for pupillary light assessments in neurocritical care patients in early 2020. In this article, we describe four cases highlighting the advantage of using objective assessments of the pupillary light reactivity response measured by the Neurological Pupil index (NPi) to detect early changes in the patient's neurological status. These cases support the applicability of AIP in pediatric neurocritical care as a noninvasive neurologic monitoring tool. The NPi may be superior to manual pupil assessments by providing a numerical scale for accurate trending clinical status of a patient's neurologic condition.

Neuroinflammation and Precision Medicine in Pediatric Neurocritical Care: Multi-Modal Monitoring of Immunometabolic Dysfunction

The understanding of molecular biology in neurocritical care (NCC) is expanding rapidly and recognizing the important contribution of neuroinflammation, specifically changes in immunometabolism, towards pathological disease processes encountered across all illnesses in the NCC. Additionally, the importance of individualized inflammatory responses has been emphasized, acknowledging that not all individuals have the same mechanisms contributing towards their presentation. By understanding cellular processes that drive disease, we can make better personalized therapy decisions to improve patient outcomes. While the understanding of these cellular processes is evolving, the ability to measure such cellular responses at bedside to make acute care decisions is lacking. In this overview, we review cellular mechanisms involved in pathological neuroinflammation with a focus on immunometabolic dysfunction and review non-invasive bedside tools that have the potential to measure indirect and direct markers of shifts in cellular metabolism related to neuroinflammation. These tools include near-infrared spectroscopy, transcranial doppler, elastography, electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, and cytokine analysis. Additionally, we review the importance of genetic testing in providing information about unique metabolic profiles to guide individualized interpretation of bedside data. Together in tandem, these modalities have the potential to provide real time information and guide more informed treatment decisions.

A-064 Executive Functioning in an Acute Pediatric Neurocritical Care Population Recently Discharged from the PICU: Exploring the Associations among Parent Report and Individual Performance Measures

Objective An emerging literature has identified that PICU survivors face a host of long-term physical, cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial difficulties that stem from the underlying concern and side effects of critical care intervention. Research shows that executive functioning (EF) is particularly vulnerable to sequelae. This study sought to understand associations between parent-report of daily life EF and performance-based measures following neurocritical care. Method Twenty-three children ages 8–16 (M = 12.66 years; 39% male) were screened as part of an integrated (neuropsychology and pediatric critical care) acute phase (3–6-week post-discharge) follow-up clinic. Injuries included children with traumatic brain injury (n = 19), or acquired brain injury (i.e., anoxic brain injury, AVM, acute cerebellitis, hemorrhagic stroke; n = 4). EF outcomes were assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning, Second Edition (BRIEF-2), Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Trail Making Test and Verbal Fluency Test, Children’s Memory Scale Digits Backwards, and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) Coding and Symbol Search subtests. Bivariate correlations were used to examine associations among parent-report of EF and performance-based measures of EF in our neurocritical care population. Results Analyses demonstrated significant (□ = .05) correlations between the WISC-V Coding subtest and the BRIEF-2 Shift scale (r = −.44) and Global Executive Composite (GEC; r = −.59). Correlations between D-KEFS Category Fluency and BRIEF-2 Initiate (r = −.51), Working Memory (r = −.44), and GEC (r = −.55) were significant. Inverse correlations demonstrate agreement. Conclusion In the acute recovery phase following neurocritical care, parent-report and specific performance-based measures are only moderately associated, demonstrating the importance of multi-method assessment to detect potential acquired deficits to inform rehabilitation.