Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Management of septic shock in children with cancer-Common challenges and research priorities See paper by Azevedo et al. in pages 127-32.

Children with cancer frequently develop a critical illness, with up to 40% requiring treatment in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) during the course of cancer-directed therapy.11 Rosenman MB, VikT, Hui SL, Breitfeld PP. Hospital resource utilization in childhood cancer. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2005;27:295-300. Treatment-related mortality, or death related to complications of cancer treatment, remains a major cause of preventable pediatric cancer deaths, representing up to 50% of deaths in some settings.22 Alexander S, Pole JD, Gibson P, Lee M, Hesser T, Chi SN, et al. Classification of treatment-related mortality in children with cancer: a systematic assessment. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16: e604-10.,33 Bansal D, Davidson A, Supriyadi E, Njuguna F, Ribeiro RC, Kaspers GJL. SIOP PODC adapted risk stratification and treatment guidelines: recommendations for acute myeloid leukemia in resource-limited settings. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2019: e28087.,44 Gibson P, Pole JD, Lazor T, Johnston D, Portwine C, Silva M, et al. Treatment-related mortality in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer: a population-based analysis. Cancer Med. 2018;7: 707-15.,55 Gupta S, Antillon FA, Bonilla M, Fu L, Howard SC, Ribeiro RC, Sung L. Treatment-related mortality in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Central America. Cancer. 2011;117: 4788-95. Sepsis and septic shock are among the most common cause of critical illness in children with cancer, with a mortality of 41 to 46%.11 Rosenman MB, VikT, Hui SL, Breitfeld PP. Hospital resource utilization in childhood cancer. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2005;27:295-300.,66 Wösten-van Asperen RM, van Gestel JP, van Grotel M, Tschiedel E, Dohna-Schwake C, Valla FV, et al. PICU mortality of children with cancer admitted to pediatric intensive care unit a systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2019;142:153-63.,77 Hallahan AR, Shaw PJ, Rowell G, O’Connell A, Schell D, Gillis J. Improved outcomes of children with malignancy admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit. Crit Care Med. 2000;28:3718-21.,88 Weiss SL, Fitzgerald JC, Pappachan J, Wheeler D, Jaramillo-Bustamante JC, Salloo A, et al. Global epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis: the sepsis prevalence, outcomes, and therapies study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015;191:1147-57. Erratum in: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016;193:223-4. This mortality is significantly higher than the overall PICU sepsis mortality among other pediatric patients of 14 to 24%.88 Weiss SL, Fitzgerald JC, Pappachan J, Wheeler D, Jaramillo-Bustamante JC, Salloo A, et al. Global epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis: the sepsis prevalence, outcomes, and therapies study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015;191:1147-57. Erratum in: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016;193:223-4.,99 de Souza DC, Shieh HH, Barreira ER, Ventura AM, Bousso A, Troster EJ. LAPSES Group. Epidemiology of Sepsis in Children Admitted to PICUs in South America. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2016;17:727-34.,1010 Menon K, Schlapbach LJ, Akech S, Argent A, Biban P, Carrol ED, et al. Criteria for pediatric sepsis-a systematic review and meta-analysis by the pediatric sepsis definition taskforce. Crit Care Med. 2022;50:21 - 36. Accordingly, an international consensus recently identified sepsis management, outcomes, and costs as a top research priority to improve pediatric onco-critical care outcomes.1111 Soeteman M, Potratz J, Nielsen JS, Willems J, Valla FV, Brierley J, et al. Research priorities in pediatric onco-critical care: an international Delphi consensus study. Intensive Care Med. 2019;45:1681 - 3.

In this issue of Jornal de Pediatria, Azevedo et al. present an assessment of the risk factors for mortality among children with malignancy and sepsis.1212 Azevedo RT, Araujo OR, Petrilli AS, Silva DC. Children with malignancies and septic shock - an attempt to understand the risk factors. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2023;99:127-32. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36306822. Their study, evaluating 139 pediatric oncology patients with sepsis admitted to a PICU in a dedicated pediatric cancer hospital in Brazil, found a 41% mortality, with 18% of deaths occurring within the first 24 hours of PICU admission. In multivariate analysis, identified risk factors for PICU mortality included the PRISM IV score, number of organs with dysfunction, and relapsed cancer. A positive fluid balance of 2-6% (representing 20-60 ml/ kg) was associated with a reduced the relative risk of mortality. This study describes a patient cohort representative of critically ill pediatric oncology patients with sepsis; the most common oncologic diagnosis was leukemia (25%), 28% had a history of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and most were neutropenic. Regarding the cause of sepsis, over 40% had culture-confirmed bacteremia with performantly gram-negative bacteria, along with a combination of other infectious organisms. These patients represent high PICU resource utilization, with nearly 80% requiring mechanical ventilation, 20% using continuous renal replacement therapy, and a long median PICU length of stay of 10 days.

Although this study describes a single-center experience in a dedicated oncology PICU, its findings of risk factors and mortality among children with cancer who develop sepsis and critical illness are likely generalizable to other hospital settings. Importantly, this work highlights several common challenges in managing this high-risk patient population and raises essential questions for future studies. As highlighted by Azevedo et al., high mortality observed in pediatric oncology patients with sepsis is a result of a combination of the host (immunosuppression), disease (cancer and infection), and environmental (hospital) factors.

Children with cancer are typically immunocompromised, either directly from their primary oncologic process involving bone marrow or as the result of cancer-directed therapy. Immunocompromised hosts are inherently at higher risk for infection and have a dysregulated response to infection and inflammation, increasing the severity of sepsis. Additionally, these patients commonly have pre-existing organ dysfunction due to prior chemotherapy toxicity and are more susceptible to developing multiple organ dysfunction syndromes in the setting of inflammation or infection.1313 Carcillo JA, Berg RA, Wessel D, Pollack M, Meert K, Hall M, et al. A multicenter network assessment of three inflammation phenotypes in pediatric sepsis-induced multiple organ failure. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2019;20:1137-46.,1414 Rosanwo T, McArthur J, Archer N. Chapter 6: Care of the critically ill pediatric sickle cell patient. In: Duncan CN, Talano JM, McArthur JA, eds. Critical Care of the Pediatric Immunocompromised Hematology/Oncology Patient: An Evidence-Based Guide, Springer; 2019.

In addition to pre-existing risk factors, the current state of a patient’s oncologic process similarly impacts outcomes. Relapsed cancer, requiring higher-intensity therapy and carrying a lower chance of survival, is a well-established risk factor in these patients. Similarly, patients with active cancer and infection may experience critical illness due to cancer progression if cancer-directed therapy is held during acute infection treatment. Regarding the cause of sepsis, along with common infections occurring in general pediatric patients, pediatric oncology patients frequently experience prolonged periods of neutropenia, making them at risk for infection from other opportunistic, viral, and fungal organisms.1515 Gertz SJ, McArthur J, Hsing DD, Nitu ME, Smith LS, Loomis A, et al. Respiratory pathogens associated with intubated pediatric patients following hematopoietic cell transplant. Transpl Infect Dis. 2020;22:e13297.,1616 Zinter MS, Levy ER, Gertz SJ. A review of pathogens causing lower respiratory tract infection in the pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipient. J Pediatr Intensive Care. 2014;3:115-32. While many pediatric oncology patients with clinical sepsis have an underlying infectious etiology, some do not, representing a subset of patients with dysregulated inflammation as a cause of shock.1717 Hines MR, Nichols KE. HLH or sepsis: the truth is in the T cells. Blood. 2021;137:2279-80. Differentiating infection from immune-mediated inflammation as the underlying cause of organ dysfunction and shock and choosing appropriate subsequent therapy to address the underlying cause is another major management challenge in children with cancer who present with critical illness and fever.

While host and disease risk factors are often fixed and immutable to clinicians at the bedside, there are multiple modifiable environmental, or hospital/practice, factors that impact outcomes in pediatric oncology patients with sepsis. Late identification of critical illness, with delays in PICU transfer and initiation of organ-supporting therapy, is a major challenge in the care of children with cancer.1818 Agulnik A, Cárdenas A, Carrillo AK, Bulsara P, Garza M, Alfonso Carreras Y, et al. Clinical and organizational risk factors for mortality during deterioration events among pediatric oncology patients in Latin America: a multicenter prospective cohort. Cancer. 2021;127:1668-78.,1919 Agulnik A, Gossett J, Carrillo AK, KangG, Morrison RR. Abnormal vital signs predict critical deterioration in hospitalized pediatric hematology-oncology and post-hematopoietic. Cell Transplant Patients. Front Oncol. 2020;10:354. This is highlighted by funding from Azevedo et al. demonstrating increased mortality among patients with delayed initiating vasoactive medications and more organ dysfunction at sepsis identification.1212 Azevedo RT, Araujo OR, Petrilli AS, Silva DC. Children with malignancies and septic shock - an attempt to understand the risk factors. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2023;99:127-32. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36306822. Multiple studies have noted the effectiveness of quality improvement initiatives to promote proactive identification and management of critical illness, such as Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS), to improve hospital outcomes in children with cancer.2020 Agulnik A, Mora Robles LN, Forbes PW, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, Mack R, Antillon-Klussmann F, et al. Improved outcomes after successful implementation of a pediatric early warning system (PEWS) in a resource-limited pediatric oncology hospital. Cancer. 2017;123:2965-74.,2121 Graetz D, Kaye EC, Garza M, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, et al. Qualitative study of pediatric early warning systems’ impact on interdisciplinary communication in two pediatric oncology hospitals with varying resources. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020;6:1079-86.,2222 Agulnik A, Antillon-Klussmann F, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, Arango R, Moran E, Lopez V, et al. Cost-benefit analysis of implementing a pediatric early warning system at a pediatric oncology hospital in a low-middle income country. Cancer. 2019;125: 4052-8.,2323 Graetz DE, Giannars E, Kaye EC, Garza M, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, et al. Clinician emotions surrounding pediatric oncology patient deterioration. Front Oncol. 2021;11:626457.,2424 Garza M, Graetz DE, Kaye EC, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, Soberanis Vásquez DJ, et al. Impact of PEWS on perceived quality of care during deterioration in children with cancer hospitalized in different resource-settings. Front Oncol. 2021;11:660051.,2525 Gillipelli SR, Kaye EC, Garza M, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, et al. Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) improve provider-family communication from the provider perspective in pediatric cancer patients experiencing clinical deterioration. Cancer Med. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5210. Epub ahead of print.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5210...
,2626 Mirochnick E, Graetz DE, Ferrara G, Puerto-Torres M, Gillipelli SR, Elish P, et al. Multilevel impacts of a pediatric early warning system in resource-limited pediatric oncology hospitals. Front Oncol. 2022;12:1018224.,2727 Agulnik A, Johnson S, Wilkes R, Faughnan L, Carrillo A, Morrison R. Impact of Implementing a Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) in a Pediatric Oncology Hospital. San Antonio, Tx: Society of Critical Care Medicine; 2018.,2828 Agulnik A, Gonzalez Ruiz A, Muniz-Talavera H, Carrillo AK, Cárdenas A, Puerto-Torres MF, et al. Model for regional collaboration: successful strategy to implement a pediatric early warning system in 36 pediatric oncology centers in Latin America. Cancer. 2022;128:4004-16. Hospital and provider experience managing children with cancer are also important, with high-volume centers typically having lower PICU mortality for these patients.1818 Agulnik A, Cárdenas A, Carrillo AK, Bulsara P, Garza M, Alfonso Carreras Y, et al. Clinical and organizational risk factors for mortality during deterioration events among pediatric oncology patients in Latin America: a multicenter prospective cohort. Cancer. 2021;127:1668-78.,2929 Lindell RB, Nishisaki A, Weiss SL, Traynor DM, Fitzgerald JC. Risk of mortality in immunocompromised children with severe sepsis and septic shock. Crit Care Med. 2020;48:1026-33. Finally, strong interdisciplinary (oncology, intensive care, etc.) and interprofessional (physician, nurses, etc.) collaboration is integral to improving the quality of care and outcomes for high-risk pediatric oncology patients. Multidisciplinary guidelines to manage pediatric sepsis,3030 Weiss SL, Peters MJ, Alhazzani W, Agus MSD, Flori HR, Inwald DP, et al. Surviving sepsis campaign international guidelines for the management of septic shock and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction in children. Intensive Care Med. 2020;46:10-67.,3131 Fernández-Sarmiento J, De Souza DC, Martinez A, Nieto V, López-Herce J, Soares Lanziotti V, et al. Latin American consensus on the management of sepsis in children: sociedad latinoamericana de cuidados intensivos pediátricos [Latin American Pediatric Intensive Care Society] (SLACIP) Task Force: Executive Summary. J Intensive Care Med. 2022;37:753-63. treating fever and neutropenia,3232 Melgar M, Reljic T, Barahona G, Camacho K, Chang A, Contreras J, et al. Guidance statement for the management of febrile neutropenia in pediatric patients receiving cancer-directed therapy in Central America and the Caribbean. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020;6:508-17. preventing central line infections and other complications of therapy3333 Buetti N, Marschall J, Drees M, Fakih MG, Hadaway L, Maragakis LL, et al. Strategies to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections in acute-care hospitals: 2022 Update. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2022;43:553-69.,3434 Lehrnbecher T, Fisher BT, Phillips B, Alexander S, Ammann RA, Beauchemin M, et al. Guideline for antibacterial prophylaxis administration in pediatric cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71:226-36. are vital to improving care. Recent work has identified global hospital indicators to assess the quality and capacity of pediatric onco-critical care services;3535 Arias AV, Garza M, Murthy S, Cardenas A, Diaz F, Montalvo E, et al. Quality and capacity indicators for hospitalized pediatric oncology patients with critical illness: a modified delphi consensus. Cancer Med. 2020;9:6984-95.,3636 Arias AV, Sakaan FM, Puerto-Torres M, Al Zebin Z, Bhattacharyya P, Cardenas A, et al. Development and pilot testing of PROACTIVE: a pediatric onco-critical care capacity and quality assessment tool for resource-limited settings. Cancer Med. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5395. Epub ahead of print.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5395...
using such assessments can aid hospitals to identify opportunities to improve patient care and outcomes. A greater systems-level focus on these modifiable factors will improve global survival for children with cancer who develop sepsis and critical illness.

The majority of available literature describes outcomes of sepsis in children with cancer comes from high-resource settings. Most children with cancer, however, live in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), which account for more than 90% of childhood cancer deaths worldwide.3737 Ward ZJ, Yeh JM, Bhakta N, Frazier AL, Atun R. Estimating the total incidence of global childhood cancer: a simulation-based analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2019;20:483-93.,3838 Ward ZJ, Yeh JM, Bhakta N, Frazier AL, Girardi F, Atun R. Global childhood cancer survival estimates and priority-setting: a simulation-based analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2019;20:972-83. Resource-limited hospitals face a range of challenges in providing acute and critical care to children, including limited staff, equipment, and medications.3939 Muttalib F, González-Dambrauskas S, Lee JH, Steere M, Agulnik A, Murthy S, et al. Pediatric emergency and critical care resources and infrastructure in resource-limited settings: a multicountry survey. Crit Care Med. 2021;49:671 -81.,4040 Souza DC, Jaramillo-Bustamante JC, Céspedes-Lesczinsky M, Quintero EMC, Jimenez HJ, Jabornisky R, et al. Challenges and health-care priorities for reducing the burden of paediatric sepsis in Latin America: a call to action. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2022;6:129-36. These hospitals also face additional barriers to implementing and sustaining quality improvement interventions designed to improve patient quality of care and outcomes.4141 Agulnik A, Ferrara G, Puerto-Torres M, Gillipelli SR, Elish P, Muniz-Talavera H, et al. Assessment of barriers and enablers to implementation of a pediatric early warning system in resource-limited settings. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e221547.,4242 Agulnik A, Schmidt-Grimminger G, Ferrara G, et al. Challenges to sustainability of pediatric early warning systems (PEWS) in low-resource hospitals in Latin America. Front Health Serv. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2022.1004805.
https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2022.100480...
,4343 Mukkada S, Smith CK, Aguilar D, Sykes A, Tang L, Dolendo M, et al. Evaluation of a fever-management algorithm in a pediatric cancer center in a low-resource setting. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2018: 65. https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.26790.
https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.26790...
,4444 Medeiros DN, Shibata AO, Pizarro CF, Rosa ML, Cardoso MP, Troster EJ. Barriers and proposed solutions to a successful implementation of pediatric sepsis protocols. Front Pediatr. 2021;9:755484. While few studies evaluate the outcome of critical illness in children with cancer in resource-limited hospitals, available data from Latin America suggest mortality is higher than in high-resource settings and increases with the severity of sepsis and organ dysfunction.1818 Agulnik A, Cárdenas A, Carrillo AK, Bulsara P, Garza M, Alfonso Carreras Y, et al. Clinical and organizational risk factors for mortality during deterioration events among pediatric oncology patients in Latin America: a multicenter prospective cohort. Cancer. 2021;127:1668-78.,4545 Mukkada S, Melgar M, Bullington C, Chang A, Homsi MR, Gonzalez ML, et al. High morbidity and mortality associated with primary bloodstream infections among pediatric patients with cancer at a Guatemalan tertiary referral hospital. Front Public Health. 2022;10:1007769. Recent work has demonstrated, however, that excellent outcomes for critically ill children with cancer are possible in resource-limited hospitals utilizing effective quality improvement strategies and multidisciplinary collaboration to proactively improve care for these high-risk patients.4646 Cardenas-Aguirre A, Hernandez-Garcia M, Lira-De-Leon B, Munoz-Brugal YL, Wang H, Villanueva-Diaz I, et al. Outcomes for critical illness in children with cancer: analysis of risk factors for adverse outcome and resource utilization from a specialized center in Mexico. Front Oncol. 2022;12:1038879. Guidelines for the management of critical illness,4747 Schell CO, Khalid K, Wharton-Smith A, Oliwa J, Sawe HR, Roy N, et al. Essential Emergency and Critical Care: a consensus among global clinical experts. BMJ Glob Health. 2021;6:e006585. pediatric sepsis3131 Fernández-Sarmiento J, De Souza DC, Martinez A, Nieto V, López-Herce J, Soares Lanziotti V, et al. Latin American consensus on the management of sepsis in children: sociedad latinoamericana de cuidados intensivos pediátricos [Latin American Pediatric Intensive Care Society] (SLACIP) Task Force: Executive Summary. J Intensive Care Med. 2022;37:753-63.,4848 Ranjit S, Kissoon N. Challenges and Solutions in translating sepsis guidelines into practice in resource-limited settings. Transl Pediatr. 2021;10:2646-65. and febrile neutropenia3232 Melgar M, Reljic T, Barahona G, Camacho K, Chang A, Contreras J, et al. Guidance statement for the management of febrile neutropenia in pediatric patients receiving cancer-directed therapy in Central America and the Caribbean. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020;6:508-17. tailored to local contextual factors and resources are integral to improving care in these settings.

The study by Azevedo et al. highlights multiple urgent research priorities to improve outcomes for children with cancer who develop sepsis. Strategies for early identification of critical illness2828 Agulnik A, Gonzalez Ruiz A, Muniz-Talavera H, Carrillo AK, Cárdenas A, Puerto-Torres MF, et al. Model for regional collaboration: successful strategy to implement a pediatric early warning system in 36 pediatric oncology centers in Latin America. Cancer. 2022;128:4004-16. and novel diagnostic techniques to rapidly identify infectious etiology4949 Goggin KP, Gonzalez-Pena V, Inaba Y, Allison KJ, Hong DK, Ahmed AA, et al. Evaluation of plasma microbial cell-free DNA sequencing to predict bloodstream infection in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory cancer. JAMA Oncol. 2020;6:552-6. Erratum in: JAMA Oncol. 2020 Feb 27: PMID: 31855231; PMCID: PMC6990667. and distinguish infection from inflammation1717 Hines MR, Nichols KE. HLH or sepsis: the truth is in the T cells. Blood. 2021;137:2279-80. remain a priority. Management approaches for children with cancer who develop sepsis, including risk stratification, appropriate contextually informed antimicrobial, and supportive care protocols are also essential. As emphasized by findings from Azevedo et al., appropriate fluid resuscitation targets remain a question for these patients, particularly ones with co-occurring respiratory dysfunction, where fluid overload has been linked to higher mortality.5050 Sallee CJ, Smith LS, Rowan CM, Heckbert SR, Angelo JR, Daniel MC, et al. Early cumulative fluid balance and outcomes in pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with acute respiratory failure: a multicenter study. Front Oncol. 2021;11:705602. Similarly, there is a need to identify clinically pragmatic biomarkers for early bedside identification of organ dysfunction syndrome phenotypes and develop novel targeted therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality from organ failure in these patients.1313 Carcillo JA, Berg RA, Wessel D, Pollack M, Meert K, Hall M, et al. A multicenter network assessment of three inflammation phenotypes in pediatric sepsis-induced multiple organ failure. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2019;20:1137-46. Finally, the global epidemiology, outcomes, and resource utilization of children with cancer and sepsis must be described in multi-center studies that include diverse, variably-resourced settings.5151 Ravikumar N, Sankar J, Das RR. Functional outcomes in survivors of pediatric sepsis: a scoping review and discussion of implications for low- and middle-income countries. Front Pediatr. 2022;10:762179.,5252 Wiens MO, Kissoon N, Holsti L. Challenges in pediatric post-sepsis care in resource limited settings: a narrative review. Transl Pediatr. 2021;10:2666-77. Regional and global research collaborations, such LARed (Red Colaborativa Pediátrica de Latinoamérica),5353 LARed. LARed network: Pediatric collaborative Latin American network. (cited 28 December 2022). Available from: https://www.la-red.net/internacional.
https://www.la-red.net/internacional...
,5454 Dominguez-Rojas JÁ, Vasquez-Hoyos P, Pérez-Morales R, Monsalve-Quintero AM, Mora-Robles L, Diaz-Diaz A, et al. Association of cancer diagnosis and therapeutic stage with mortality in pediatric patients with COVID-19, Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study from Latin America. Front Pediatr. 2022;10:885633. POKER (PICU Oncology Kids in Europe Research Group),1111 Soeteman M, Potratz J, Nielsen JS, Willems J, Valla FV, Brierley J, et al. Research priorities in pediatric onco-critical care: an international Delphi consensus study. Intensive Care Med. 2019;45:1681 - 3.,5555 ESPNIC. PICU Oncology Kids in Europe Research Group (POKER). (cited 28 December 2022). Available from: https://edu.espnic.eu/course/index.php?categoryid=31.
https://edu.espnic.eu/course/index.php?c...
PALISI Global Health (Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators),5656 Abbas Q, Holloway A, Caporal P, López-Barón E, Agulnik A, Remy KE, et al. Global PARITY: study design for a multi-centered, international point prevalence study to estimate the burden of pediatric acute critical illness in resource-limited settings. Front Pediatr. 2022;9:793326.,5757 Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators Global Health Subgroup (PALISI). (cited 28 December 2022). Available from: https://www.palisiglobalhealth.org/.
https://www.palisiglobalhealth.org/...
WHO GICC (World Health Organization Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer),5858 World Health Organization. Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. (cited 14 July 2022). Available from: http://www.who.int/cancer/childhood-cancer/en/.
http://www.who.int/cancer/childhood-canc...
and St. Jude Global Critical Care Program,5959 St. Jude Global. (cited 2 March 2020). Available from: https://www.stjude.org/global.html.
https://www.stjude.org/global.html...
which address critical illness in children are needed to take on these pressing research questions.

Sepsis resulting in critical illness in children with cancer remains a major clinical challenge and cause of preventable cancer-related mortality. Addressing this challenge will require multidisciplinary and multinational collaborations across the fields of basic science, clinical research, quality improvement, and implementation science. This work must systematically focus on the unique characteristics of this patient population as well as local contextual factors that impact their care and management. There is an urgent need for global collaboration to systematically address sepsis in children with cancer to improve survival and long-term outcomes worldwide.

  • See paper by Azevedo et al. in pages 127-32.

References

  • 1
    Rosenman MB, VikT, Hui SL, Breitfeld PP. Hospital resource utilization in childhood cancer. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2005;27:295-300.
  • 2
    Alexander S, Pole JD, Gibson P, Lee M, Hesser T, Chi SN, et al. Classification of treatment-related mortality in children with cancer: a systematic assessment. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16: e604-10.
  • 3
    Bansal D, Davidson A, Supriyadi E, Njuguna F, Ribeiro RC, Kaspers GJL. SIOP PODC adapted risk stratification and treatment guidelines: recommendations for acute myeloid leukemia in resource-limited settings. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2019: e28087.
  • 4
    Gibson P, Pole JD, Lazor T, Johnston D, Portwine C, Silva M, et al. Treatment-related mortality in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer: a population-based analysis. Cancer Med. 2018;7: 707-15.
  • 5
    Gupta S, Antillon FA, Bonilla M, Fu L, Howard SC, Ribeiro RC, Sung L. Treatment-related mortality in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Central America. Cancer. 2011;117: 4788-95.
  • 6
    Wösten-van Asperen RM, van Gestel JP, van Grotel M, Tschiedel E, Dohna-Schwake C, Valla FV, et al. PICU mortality of children with cancer admitted to pediatric intensive care unit a systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2019;142:153-63.
  • 7
    Hallahan AR, Shaw PJ, Rowell G, O’Connell A, Schell D, Gillis J. Improved outcomes of children with malignancy admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit. Crit Care Med. 2000;28:3718-21.
  • 8
    Weiss SL, Fitzgerald JC, Pappachan J, Wheeler D, Jaramillo-Bustamante JC, Salloo A, et al. Global epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis: the sepsis prevalence, outcomes, and therapies study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015;191:1147-57. Erratum in: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016;193:223-4.
  • 9
    de Souza DC, Shieh HH, Barreira ER, Ventura AM, Bousso A, Troster EJ. LAPSES Group. Epidemiology of Sepsis in Children Admitted to PICUs in South America. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2016;17:727-34.
  • 10
    Menon K, Schlapbach LJ, Akech S, Argent A, Biban P, Carrol ED, et al. Criteria for pediatric sepsis-a systematic review and meta-analysis by the pediatric sepsis definition taskforce. Crit Care Med. 2022;50:21 - 36.
  • 11
    Soeteman M, Potratz J, Nielsen JS, Willems J, Valla FV, Brierley J, et al. Research priorities in pediatric onco-critical care: an international Delphi consensus study. Intensive Care Med. 2019;45:1681 - 3.
  • 12
    Azevedo RT, Araujo OR, Petrilli AS, Silva DC. Children with malignancies and septic shock - an attempt to understand the risk factors. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2023;99:127-32. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36306822.
  • 13
    Carcillo JA, Berg RA, Wessel D, Pollack M, Meert K, Hall M, et al. A multicenter network assessment of three inflammation phenotypes in pediatric sepsis-induced multiple organ failure. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2019;20:1137-46.
  • 14
    Rosanwo T, McArthur J, Archer N. Chapter 6: Care of the critically ill pediatric sickle cell patient. In: Duncan CN, Talano JM, McArthur JA, eds. Critical Care of the Pediatric Immunocompromised Hematology/Oncology Patient: An Evidence-Based Guide, Springer; 2019.
  • 15
    Gertz SJ, McArthur J, Hsing DD, Nitu ME, Smith LS, Loomis A, et al. Respiratory pathogens associated with intubated pediatric patients following hematopoietic cell transplant. Transpl Infect Dis. 2020;22:e13297.
  • 16
    Zinter MS, Levy ER, Gertz SJ. A review of pathogens causing lower respiratory tract infection in the pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipient. J Pediatr Intensive Care. 2014;3:115-32.
  • 17
    Hines MR, Nichols KE. HLH or sepsis: the truth is in the T cells. Blood. 2021;137:2279-80.
  • 18
    Agulnik A, Cárdenas A, Carrillo AK, Bulsara P, Garza M, Alfonso Carreras Y, et al. Clinical and organizational risk factors for mortality during deterioration events among pediatric oncology patients in Latin America: a multicenter prospective cohort. Cancer. 2021;127:1668-78.
  • 19
    Agulnik A, Gossett J, Carrillo AK, KangG, Morrison RR. Abnormal vital signs predict critical deterioration in hospitalized pediatric hematology-oncology and post-hematopoietic. Cell Transplant Patients. Front Oncol. 2020;10:354.
  • 20
    Agulnik A, Mora Robles LN, Forbes PW, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, Mack R, Antillon-Klussmann F, et al. Improved outcomes after successful implementation of a pediatric early warning system (PEWS) in a resource-limited pediatric oncology hospital. Cancer. 2017;123:2965-74.
  • 21
    Graetz D, Kaye EC, Garza M, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, et al. Qualitative study of pediatric early warning systems’ impact on interdisciplinary communication in two pediatric oncology hospitals with varying resources. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020;6:1079-86.
  • 22
    Agulnik A, Antillon-Klussmann F, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, Arango R, Moran E, Lopez V, et al. Cost-benefit analysis of implementing a pediatric early warning system at a pediatric oncology hospital in a low-middle income country. Cancer. 2019;125: 4052-8.
  • 23
    Graetz DE, Giannars E, Kaye EC, Garza M, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, et al. Clinician emotions surrounding pediatric oncology patient deterioration. Front Oncol. 2021;11:626457.
  • 24
    Garza M, Graetz DE, Kaye EC, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, Soberanis Vásquez DJ, et al. Impact of PEWS on perceived quality of care during deterioration in children with cancer hospitalized in different resource-settings. Front Oncol. 2021;11:660051.
  • 25
    Gillipelli SR, Kaye EC, Garza M, Ferrara G, Rodriguez M, Soberanis Vasquez DJ, et al. Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) improve provider-family communication from the provider perspective in pediatric cancer patients experiencing clinical deterioration. Cancer Med. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5210 Epub ahead of print.
    » https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5210
  • 26
    Mirochnick E, Graetz DE, Ferrara G, Puerto-Torres M, Gillipelli SR, Elish P, et al. Multilevel impacts of a pediatric early warning system in resource-limited pediatric oncology hospitals. Front Oncol. 2022;12:1018224.
  • 27
    Agulnik A, Johnson S, Wilkes R, Faughnan L, Carrillo A, Morrison R. Impact of Implementing a Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) in a Pediatric Oncology Hospital. San Antonio, Tx: Society of Critical Care Medicine; 2018.
  • 28
    Agulnik A, Gonzalez Ruiz A, Muniz-Talavera H, Carrillo AK, Cárdenas A, Puerto-Torres MF, et al. Model for regional collaboration: successful strategy to implement a pediatric early warning system in 36 pediatric oncology centers in Latin America. Cancer. 2022;128:4004-16.
  • 29
    Lindell RB, Nishisaki A, Weiss SL, Traynor DM, Fitzgerald JC. Risk of mortality in immunocompromised children with severe sepsis and septic shock. Crit Care Med. 2020;48:1026-33.
  • 30
    Weiss SL, Peters MJ, Alhazzani W, Agus MSD, Flori HR, Inwald DP, et al. Surviving sepsis campaign international guidelines for the management of septic shock and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction in children. Intensive Care Med. 2020;46:10-67.
  • 31
    Fernández-Sarmiento J, De Souza DC, Martinez A, Nieto V, López-Herce J, Soares Lanziotti V, et al. Latin American consensus on the management of sepsis in children: sociedad latinoamericana de cuidados intensivos pediátricos [Latin American Pediatric Intensive Care Society] (SLACIP) Task Force: Executive Summary. J Intensive Care Med. 2022;37:753-63.
  • 32
    Melgar M, Reljic T, Barahona G, Camacho K, Chang A, Contreras J, et al. Guidance statement for the management of febrile neutropenia in pediatric patients receiving cancer-directed therapy in Central America and the Caribbean. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020;6:508-17.
  • 33
    Buetti N, Marschall J, Drees M, Fakih MG, Hadaway L, Maragakis LL, et al. Strategies to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections in acute-care hospitals: 2022 Update. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2022;43:553-69.
  • 34
    Lehrnbecher T, Fisher BT, Phillips B, Alexander S, Ammann RA, Beauchemin M, et al. Guideline for antibacterial prophylaxis administration in pediatric cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Clin Infect Dis. 2020;71:226-36.
  • 35
    Arias AV, Garza M, Murthy S, Cardenas A, Diaz F, Montalvo E, et al. Quality and capacity indicators for hospitalized pediatric oncology patients with critical illness: a modified delphi consensus. Cancer Med. 2020;9:6984-95.
  • 36
    Arias AV, Sakaan FM, Puerto-Torres M, Al Zebin Z, Bhattacharyya P, Cardenas A, et al. Development and pilot testing of PROACTIVE: a pediatric onco-critical care capacity and quality assessment tool for resource-limited settings. Cancer Med. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5395 Epub ahead of print.
    » https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5395
  • 37
    Ward ZJ, Yeh JM, Bhakta N, Frazier AL, Atun R. Estimating the total incidence of global childhood cancer: a simulation-based analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2019;20:483-93.
  • 38
    Ward ZJ, Yeh JM, Bhakta N, Frazier AL, Girardi F, Atun R. Global childhood cancer survival estimates and priority-setting: a simulation-based analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2019;20:972-83.
  • 39
    Muttalib F, González-Dambrauskas S, Lee JH, Steere M, Agulnik A, Murthy S, et al. Pediatric emergency and critical care resources and infrastructure in resource-limited settings: a multicountry survey. Crit Care Med. 2021;49:671 -81.
  • 40
    Souza DC, Jaramillo-Bustamante JC, Céspedes-Lesczinsky M, Quintero EMC, Jimenez HJ, Jabornisky R, et al. Challenges and health-care priorities for reducing the burden of paediatric sepsis in Latin America: a call to action. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2022;6:129-36.
  • 41
    Agulnik A, Ferrara G, Puerto-Torres M, Gillipelli SR, Elish P, Muniz-Talavera H, et al. Assessment of barriers and enablers to implementation of a pediatric early warning system in resource-limited settings. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5:e221547.
  • 42
    Agulnik A, Schmidt-Grimminger G, Ferrara G, et al. Challenges to sustainability of pediatric early warning systems (PEWS) in low-resource hospitals in Latin America. Front Health Serv. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2022.1004805
    » https://doi.org/10.3389/frhs.2022.1004805
  • 43
    Mukkada S, Smith CK, Aguilar D, Sykes A, Tang L, Dolendo M, et al. Evaluation of a fever-management algorithm in a pediatric cancer center in a low-resource setting. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2018: 65. https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.26790
    » https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.26790
  • 44
    Medeiros DN, Shibata AO, Pizarro CF, Rosa ML, Cardoso MP, Troster EJ. Barriers and proposed solutions to a successful implementation of pediatric sepsis protocols. Front Pediatr. 2021;9:755484.
  • 45
    Mukkada S, Melgar M, Bullington C, Chang A, Homsi MR, Gonzalez ML, et al. High morbidity and mortality associated with primary bloodstream infections among pediatric patients with cancer at a Guatemalan tertiary referral hospital. Front Public Health. 2022;10:1007769.
  • 46
    Cardenas-Aguirre A, Hernandez-Garcia M, Lira-De-Leon B, Munoz-Brugal YL, Wang H, Villanueva-Diaz I, et al. Outcomes for critical illness in children with cancer: analysis of risk factors for adverse outcome and resource utilization from a specialized center in Mexico. Front Oncol. 2022;12:1038879.
  • 47
    Schell CO, Khalid K, Wharton-Smith A, Oliwa J, Sawe HR, Roy N, et al. Essential Emergency and Critical Care: a consensus among global clinical experts. BMJ Glob Health. 2021;6:e006585.
  • 48
    Ranjit S, Kissoon N. Challenges and Solutions in translating sepsis guidelines into practice in resource-limited settings. Transl Pediatr. 2021;10:2646-65.
  • 49
    Goggin KP, Gonzalez-Pena V, Inaba Y, Allison KJ, Hong DK, Ahmed AA, et al. Evaluation of plasma microbial cell-free DNA sequencing to predict bloodstream infection in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory cancer. JAMA Oncol. 2020;6:552-6. Erratum in: JAMA Oncol. 2020 Feb 27: PMID: 31855231; PMCID: PMC6990667.
  • 50
    Sallee CJ, Smith LS, Rowan CM, Heckbert SR, Angelo JR, Daniel MC, et al. Early cumulative fluid balance and outcomes in pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with acute respiratory failure: a multicenter study. Front Oncol. 2021;11:705602.
  • 51
    Ravikumar N, Sankar J, Das RR. Functional outcomes in survivors of pediatric sepsis: a scoping review and discussion of implications for low- and middle-income countries. Front Pediatr. 2022;10:762179.
  • 52
    Wiens MO, Kissoon N, Holsti L. Challenges in pediatric post-sepsis care in resource limited settings: a narrative review. Transl Pediatr. 2021;10:2666-77.
  • 53
    LARed. LARed network: Pediatric collaborative Latin American network. (cited 28 December 2022). Available from: https://www.la-red.net/internacional
    » https://www.la-red.net/internacional
  • 54
    Dominguez-Rojas JÁ, Vasquez-Hoyos P, Pérez-Morales R, Monsalve-Quintero AM, Mora-Robles L, Diaz-Diaz A, et al. Association of cancer diagnosis and therapeutic stage with mortality in pediatric patients with COVID-19, Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study from Latin America. Front Pediatr. 2022;10:885633.
  • 55
    ESPNIC. PICU Oncology Kids in Europe Research Group (POKER). (cited 28 December 2022). Available from: https://edu.espnic.eu/course/index.php?categoryid=31
    » https://edu.espnic.eu/course/index.php?categoryid=31
  • 56
    Abbas Q, Holloway A, Caporal P, López-Barón E, Agulnik A, Remy KE, et al. Global PARITY: study design for a multi-centered, international point prevalence study to estimate the burden of pediatric acute critical illness in resource-limited settings. Front Pediatr. 2022;9:793326.
  • 57
    Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators Global Health Subgroup (PALISI). (cited 28 December 2022). Available from: https://www.palisiglobalhealth.org/
    » https://www.palisiglobalhealth.org/
  • 58
    World Health Organization. Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. (cited 14 July 2022). Available from: http://www.who.int/cancer/childhood-cancer/en/
    » http://www.who.int/cancer/childhood-cancer/en/
  • 59
    St. Jude Global. (cited 2 March 2020). Available from: https://www.stjude.org/global.html
    » https://www.stjude.org/global.html

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    17 Apr 2023
  • Date of issue
    Mar-Apr 2023
Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria Av. Carlos Gomes, 328 cj. 304, 90480-000 Porto Alegre RS Brazil, Tel.: +55 51 3328-9520 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brazil
E-mail: jped@jped.com.br