Pediatric critical care admission after scoliosis surgery in children with underlying conditions: requirements, evolution and comparison with healthy children.

AIMS: Research on postoperative care in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) for children with pre-existing medical conditions undergoing scoliosis surgery is limited. This study aims to describe their postoperative course and compare it with healthy children.

METHODS

A descriptive, observational, and retrospective study conducted in PICU. Done through medical record review.

RESULTS

Sixty patients included, 33 females (age of 13.6 ± 3.9 years). Among them, 44 had pre-existing medical conditions. The median PICU stay was two days (interquartile range, IQR, 1.25-4 days). Healthy patients experienced shorter stay (1.56 ± 0.81 days versus 8.84 ± 24.3 days, p = 0.01). Vasoactive drugs were only required in patients with underlying conditions (p = 0.027). Only one patient with IS required invasive mechanical ventilation (1/15, p = 0.047), and no deaths were reported.

CONCLUSIONS

In our study, children with an underlying condition needed more complex and prolonged PICU care. These findings could facilitate the prediction of postoperative needs in such patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: level IV, case series.