COVID-19 and a serious inflammatory syndrome in children: Unpacking recent warnings
On April 27, an alert circulated from the U.K. about multi-system inflammatory disease in children with COVID-19, based on a small rise in the number of critically ill children with this illness in England. Picked up by multiple media outlets, the alert cited features of toxic shock syndrome and incomplete Kawasaki disease, with some children ... Read More
Vascular rings: A complex cause of noisy breathing
Patients who present with noisy breathing, wheezing, a barking cough, and frequent respiratory infections are often misdiagnosed with asthma or croup, but a more complex problem could be responsible. Such symptoms can signal tracheomalacia (also known as tracheobronchomalacia), a condition in which the airway narrows or collapses when a child breathes. But clinicians should consider ... Read More
How do you implement change? Lessons from a QI project in the NICU
Kristen Leeman, MD, is Director of Quality in the Division of Newborn Medicine and Associate Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital. What if you were taught to do things a certain way, the way things were always done, and then a randomized clinical trial comes out supporting a different ... Read More
New treatment guidelines for complex ADHD
Approximately 7.5 percent of children and adolescents in the U.S. have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and about two-thirds of them have one or more co-existing conditions such as learning disorders or mental health problems. Treatment for these more complex forms of ADHD has focused largely on medical interventions. But now, a new clinical guideline ... Read More
Dizziness, vertigo, and balance disorders in children
Dr. Jacob Brodsky, MD, FAAP, is the director of the Balance and Vestibular Program in the Boston Children’s Hospital Department of Otolaryngology and Communication Enhancement, as well as an assistant professor in the Department of Otology and Laryngology at Harvard Medical School. Imagine that you wake up one morning and the world around you is spinning rapidly as if ... Read More
Five lessons learned from our Vaping Service
Vaping is a public health emergency in the United States. In recent months, over 2,000 people have become sick after using e-cigarettes and dozens have died. Yet despite the dangers involved, the number of young people who vape continues to climb, according to the latest Monitoring the Future study. The Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital ... Read More