Search

Research

Exposure to surgery and anesthesia in early childhood has been found to be associated with an increased risk of behavioral deficits. While the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against prenatal exposure to anesthetic drugs, little clinical evidence exists to support this recommendation. This study evaluates the association between prenatal exposure to general anesthesia due to maternal procedures during pregnancy and neuropsychological and behavioral outcome scores at age 10.

Research

Tonsillectomy is one of the most common pediatric surgeries and results in considerable postoperative pain. Insufficiently managed pain is costly, risks physiological and psychological consequences with multi-modal analgesia widely recommended to minimize opioid-based agents. We determined adherence to multi-modal analgesia guidelines and assessed cost-effectiveness. We undertook a cross-sectional cohort study at a tertiary pediatric institution in Perth, Western Australia, retrospectively identifying selected patients undergoing tonsillectomy over two discrete periods of 6-week duration.

Research

With the deadly and highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, there is global concern about the danger of contaminating healthcare workers (HCW), particularly during airway management of infected patients.

News & Events

A leading paediatric anaesthetist and researcher focused on making anaesthesia safer and more comfortable for children has been named a 2022 Western Australian Young Tall Poppy.

Research

Previous studies have reported that mode of delivery, particularly cesarean delivery is associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. This study evaluates behavioral and neuropsychological test scores in children based on mode of delivery.

The Perioperative Medicine team has developed a unique chewable tablet that gives the child the sensation of having a full stomach, without compromising their fasting regime.

Research

Among all surgical specialties, vascular surgery has the greatest proportion of patients with unplanned admissions to the intensive care unit postoperatively. Therefore, current clinical pathways for the postoperative management of vascular surgery patients may need to be revised.

Research

Perioperative pain management impacts patient morbidity, quality of life, and hospitalization cost. In children, it impacts not only the child, but the whole family. Adjuncts for improved perioperative analgesia continue to be sought to minimize adverse side effects associated with opioids and for those in whom regional or neuraxial anesthesia is not suitable.

Research

Hypoactive delirium is present when an awake child is unaware of his or her surroundings, is unable to focus attention, and appears quiet and withdrawn. This condition has been well-described in the intensive care setting but has not been extensively studied in the immediate post-anesthetic period. The aim was to determine if hypoactive emergence delirium occurs in the recovery unit of a pediatric hospital, and if so, what proportion of emergence delirium is hypoactive in nature.

Research

Chronic childhood constipation is a common problem that severely impacts quality of life. Recently, the efficacy of intrasphincteric botulinum toxin (botox) injection in breaking the cycle of constipation has been demonstrated. The current study aims to investigate response rate to treatment, symptom and examination finding associations, and identify associations between patient characteristics and outcome.