Yousef El-Gohary1, Andrew Fleming2, Hui Zhang3, Jeremie H Estepp4, Jane S Hankins4, Winfred Wang4, Andrew M Davidoff5, Andrew J Murphy6. 1. Department of Surgery, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. 2. College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, Tennessee. 3. Department of Biostatistics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. 4. Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. 5. Department of Surgery, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee; Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee. 6. Department of Surgery, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee; Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee. Electronic address: andrew.murphy@stjude.org.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at high risk of developing life-threatening complications, particularly acute chest syndrome (ACS) postoperatively. The perioperative factors associated with the development of ACS in children with SCD after splenectomy have not been clearly identified. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all children who underwent splenectomy at our institution between 1997 and 2017 with the goal of identifying perioperative factors associated with postoperative ACS. Categorical and noncategorical variables were compared using Fisher's exact test and Student's two-tailed t-test, respectively. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients with SCD underwent splenectomy at a median of 4.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 2.0-8.0) years of age. A laparoscopic approach was used for 64 (98.5%) patients. Fifty-six (86.2%) underwent laparoscopic total splenectomy, and eight (12.3%) underwent laparoscopic partial splenectomy, of which two were converted to open. One had an open partial splenectomy (1.5%). Of the 65 patients, 10 (15.4%) developed ACS with a mean time to diagnosis of 49.0 ± 34.5 h. Children who developed ACS had a higher postoperative median pain score of 6.8 (IQR 5.1-9.1) versus 2.7 (IQR 1.6-4.2), P < 0.001, higher median pain score area under the curve 111.5 (IQR 76.9-169.1) versus 47.3 (IQR 30.5-78.3), P = 0.01, and received more total morphine equivalents (median 1.4 [IQR 0.4-2.7] versus 0.5 [IQR 0.3-0.9] mg/kg, respectively; P = 0.003), compared with children who did not develop ACS. CONCLUSIONS: Significant postoperative pain may be an early sign of ACS that could be worsened by opioid use, supporting the investigation of nonopioid pain control options in this patient population.
BACKGROUND: Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at high risk of developing life-threatening complications, particularly acute chest syndrome (ACS) postoperatively. The perioperative factors associated with the development of ACS in children with SCD after splenectomy have not been clearly identified. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of all children who underwent splenectomy at our institution between 1997 and 2017 with the goal of identifying perioperative factors associated with postoperative ACS. Categorical and noncategorical variables were compared using Fisher's exact test and Student's two-tailed t-test, respectively. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients with SCD underwent splenectomy at a median of 4.0 (interquartile range [IQR] 2.0-8.0) years of age. A laparoscopic approach was used for 64 (98.5%) patients. Fifty-six (86.2%) underwent laparoscopic total splenectomy, and eight (12.3%) underwent laparoscopic partial splenectomy, of which two were converted to open. One had an open partial splenectomy (1.5%). Of the 65 patients, 10 (15.4%) developed ACS with a mean time to diagnosis of 49.0 ± 34.5 h. Children who developed ACS had a higher postoperative median pain score of 6.8 (IQR 5.1-9.1) versus 2.7 (IQR 1.6-4.2), P < 0.001, higher median pain score area under the curve 111.5 (IQR 76.9-169.1) versus 47.3 (IQR 30.5-78.3), P = 0.01, and received more total morphine equivalents (median 1.4 [IQR 0.4-2.7] versus 0.5 [IQR 0.3-0.9] mg/kg, respectively; P = 0.003), compared with children who did not develop ACS. CONCLUSIONS: Significant postoperative pain may be an early sign of ACS that could be worsened by opioid use, supporting the investigation of nonopioid pain control options in this patient population.