Resumen

ARIAS, Mónica et al. Characterization of the patients in an exclusively oncology Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. rev.colomb.cancerol. [online]. 2015, vol.19, n.2, pp.90-94. ISSN 0123-9015.  https://doi.org/10.10167j.rccan.2015.04.003.

Objective: In 2010, Colombian law aimed to lower cancer mortality in children under the age of 18 years. The Instituto Nacional de Cancerología in response to this law, created the first Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in the country exclusively for pediatric cancer patients. The aim of this study was to describe the demographic and pathological characteristics of patients in this unit from October 2011 to June 2013. Methods: This was a prospective observational descriptive study. It included all patients under 18 years of age with suspected or confirmed diagnosis of cancer. Their demographic characteristics and diagnoses were recorded, as well as the mortality. Results: The results showed 261 admissions in 201 patients, of whom 53% were female, and with a median age of 7 years. The mean hospital stay was 6 days. The number of deaths in the PICU was 32 patients (15.9%). The majority of them died with multiple organ dysfunctions or in septic shock. A higher frequency was found in the use of invasive mechanical ventilation, vasoactive drugs, renal replacement therapies, and with more infections and readmissions among the mortality cases. Conclusions: In summary, the behavior found in this cohort of patients was similar to that reported in the literature, except that in this case having an infectious diagnosis was more frequent than that previously reported among the mortality cases. It is important to determine the reasons for this relationship in future studies.

Palabras clave : Child; Neoplasm; Intensive care; Mortality.

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