Title: Pediatric Sepsis (submitted by Lauren Grandpre, MD)<br/>Author: Mimi Lu<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/185/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
Sepsis remains the most common cause of death in infants and children worldwide, with pneumonia being the most common cause of pediatric sepsis overall.</p>
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Strikingly, however, the mortality rate in pediatric sepsis is significant lower in children (10-20%) as compared to adults (35-50%).</p>
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The management of pediatric sepsis has been largely influenced by and extrapolated from studies performed in adults, in part due to difficulties performing clinical trial data in children with critical illness, including sepsis.</p>
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A major difference in management of children vs. adults with refractory septic shock with or without refractory hypoxemia from severe respiratory infection is the dramatic survival advantage of children when ECMO rescue therapy is used as compared to adults.</p>
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<em><strong>Bottom line</strong>: Consider ECMO for refractory pediatric septic shock with respiratory failure – in kids, survival is improved dramatically – consider it early!</em></p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Randolph%20AG%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=24225404">Randolph AG</a> & <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=McCulloh%20RJ%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=24225404">McCulloh RJ</a>. Pediatric sepsis: important considerations for diagnosing and managing severe infections in infants, children, and adolescents. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24225404" title="Virulence.">Virulence.</a> 2014: 1;5(1):179-89. doi: 10.4161/viru.27045.</p>
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<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Wheeler%20DS%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23723956">Wheeler DS</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Wong%20HR%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23723956">Wong HR</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Zingarelli%20B%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23723956">Zingarelli B</a>. Pediatric Sepsis - Part I: "Children are not small adults!" <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23723956" title="The open inflammation journal.">Open Inflamm J.</a> 2011: 7;4:4-15. doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.2174/1875041901104010004">10.2174/1875041901104010004</a>.</p>
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