Characteristics and Validation of Pediatric Extremity Vascular Trauma in Dedicated Pediatric and Adult Trauma Centers: A Scoping Review Protocol.

BACKGROUND

Pediatric extremity vascular injuries constitute a rare yet serious entity that can lead to serious complications especially if left untreated or become late diagnosed. In our scoping review, we sought to evaluate different characteristics and outcomes of pediatric and combined adult trauma centers (ATCs) in the management of pediatric extremity vascular injury.

METHODS

We sought to analyze various characteristics and parameters that differentiate a dedicated pediatric and a combined pediatric ATC in terms of effectiveness and quality of care in the acute setting and to describe special features and characteristics of an acute vascular disease that constitute pediatric population unique from the aspect of diagnosis and management. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping reviews guidelines to conduct the study.

RESULTS

The search identified 8,815 records in title using MeSH terms from PubMed/MEDLINE database among which 12 studies reporting a total of 2,124 pediatric patients with vascular extremity injuries were included for analysis. Incidence of pediatric extremity vascular injury was 0.5%. Upper extremity injuries were the most frequent presenting in 63% of cases followed by lower extremity injuries in 37% of cases. Blunt injuries were marginally more common than penetrating injuries (58% vs. 42%). In-hospital mortality and morbidity ranged from 13.2% to 0.9% and 13% to 30%, respectively. Limb-salvage rates were high, ranging from 92% to 99%. Furthermore, there are no clearly defined clinical guidelines involving the mode of imaging and diagnosis, the surgical specialties involved and the competency of nursing or medical staff overall.

CONCLUSIONS

Dedicated children trauma centers theoretically represent the optimal path for acute pediatric trauma admission, especially in complex trauma necessitating vascular reconstruction. However, in the current setting of rapidly increasing health costs and economic crisis worldwide, regional or resource-related factors make this option rather unavailable. In any case, it is imperative the clinicians have a high index of suspicion when confronting with these types of injuries because early diagnosis is highly related with reduced morbidity and superior outcomes.