Systematic Review and Guidelines for Perioperative Management of Pediatric Patients Undergoing Major Plastic Surgery Procedures, with a Focus on Free Tissue Transfer.
Date
2022-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Repository Usage Stats
views
downloads
Citation Stats
Abstract
Background
Microsurgical free tissue transfer has been successfully implemented for various reconstructive applications in children. The goal of this study was to identify the best available evidence on perioperative management of pediatric patients undergoing free tissue transfer and to use it to develop evidence-based care guidelines.Methods
A systematic review was conducted in the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases. Because a preliminary search of the pediatric microsurgical literature yielded scant data with a low level of evidence, pediatric anesthesia guidelines for healthy children undergoing major operations were also included. Exclusion criteria included vague descriptions of perioperative care, case reports, and studies of syndromic or chronically ill children.Results
Two hundred four articles were identified, and 53 met inclusion criteria. Management approaches specific to the pediatric population were used to formulate recommendations. High-quality data were found for anesthesia, analgesia, fluid administration/blood transfusion, and anticoagulation (Level I Evidence). Lower quality evidence was identified for patient temperature (Level III Evidence) and vasodilator use (Level IV Evidence). Key recommendations include administering sevoflurane for general anesthesia, implementing a multimodal analgesia strategy, limiting preoperative fasting, restricting blood transfusions until hemoglobin level is less than 7 g/dl unless the patient is symptomatic, and reserving chemical venous thromboembolism prophylaxis for high-risk patients.Conclusions
Pediatric-specific guidelines are important, as they acknowledge physiologic differences in children, which may be overlooked when extrapolating from adult studies. These evidence-based recommendations are a key first step toward standardization of perioperative care of pediatric patients undergoing plastic surgical procedures, including free tissue transfer, to improve outcomes and minimize complications.Type
Department
Description
Provenance
Citation
Permalink
Published Version (Please cite this version)
Publication Info
Mountziaris, Paschalia M, Christina M Rudolph, Craig T Fournier, Siba Haykal, Joseph A Ricci, Kristen M Rezak and Ashit Patel (2022). Systematic Review and Guidelines for Perioperative Management of Pediatric Patients Undergoing Major Plastic Surgery Procedures, with a Focus on Free Tissue Transfer. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 150(2). pp. 406e–415e. 10.1097/prs.0000000000009325 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/28933.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
Scholars@Duke

Kristen Marie Rezak
Clinical Focus and Research
Clinical interests include cosmetic breast and body contouring surgery, revision breast surgery, transgender surgery, breast reconstruction and microsurgical free flaps.
Research interests include improving outcomes for free flap surgery, optimizing healing after breast reconstruction, and regenerative medicine.

Ash Patel
Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.