Journal of Comprehensive Pediatrics
Volume:5 Issue: 2, May 2014

CT scan is one brain imaging method, being used to a greater extent than the past.. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of abnormal findings in brain CT scans among children as well as the reasons for brain CT scan requests..Patients and In the present case series, demographic information and CT scan reports of 167 patients referred to Taba Radiology Center in Shiraz from April 2010 to August 2011 were collected. The major complaints of the patients were gathered through phone contacts. Descriptive statistics and Pearson chi-Square tests were used. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.. Among the 167 patients, 84 (50.3%) were males and the average age of the patients was 12.5 ± 4.7 years. Twenty patients (11.98%) had abnormal CT scans. The most prevalent abnormal findings were arachnoid cyst in 4 (20%), cerebral hemorrhage in 3 (15%), atrophic change in 3 (15%), hydrocephaly in 3 (15%), and congenital underdevelopment in 2 (10%) cases. The most common major complaints included headache in 73 (60.8%), head injury in 14 (11.5%), and seizure in 12 (10%) patients. Only 2.7% of the patients with headaches showed abnormal findings in CT scans, compared with 17% of patients with other complaints; this difference was significant (P = 0.013).. Headache, seizure, and trauma are the main reasons for CT scan requests. About 12% of the brain CT scans were abnormal. Being knowledgeable about the indications of imaging, unnecessary imaging can be prevented, and consequently, its risks can be minimized..

Context: According to some studies, the tendency of mothers to breastfeed has declined in recent years. Due to numerous benefits of breastfeeding which had been reported, this problem may put children’s health and overall health of society at risk. In this study, we reviewed previous studies, emphasizing importance and necessity and enumerating benefits of breast-feeding..Evidence Acquisition: Websites including PubMed, Science Direct, Biomed, Medline, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, SID, and magazines related to the topic were searched using keywords. Articles that examined various aspects of breastfeeding were analyzed as well.. The most perfect food for babies during the first two years of their lives is breast milk. It has so many health benefits for both mother and baby. Breastfeeding was studied from various aspects. There was significant correlation between the examined factors in vast majority of papers. However, some factors that researchers considered important did not give definitive results; therefore more extensive research is needed in this area.. Breast milk is the most perfect food for babies during the first two years and no replacement is recommended during this time. Breastfeeding has so many health benefits for both mother and baby during the breastfeeding period as well as in the future..

Headache is a common complaint in children, and it has a significant effect on their daily living activities. Having a definite diagnosis for the cause of the headache is very important for its appropriate management.. We report a 12-year-old boy complaining of chronic headache, with a positive family history of migraine. The only abnormal finding in his general and neurological examinations, and CT scan evaluation of his brain and paranasal sinuses, was a retention cyst in his sphenoid sinus. The child’s symptoms did not improve after receiving migraine medications or treatment for sinusitis. Further investigations revealed positive serological results for brucellosis infection. His symptoms were relieved, and imaging evidence of sinus involvement disappeared after brucellosis treatment. The child remained headache free in later follow-ups.. In evaluating the cause of children’s headaches, brucellosis must be considered in differential diagnosis..

Asthma has high prevalence in children (7-10%). Many psychiatric factors including personality traits, psychiatric diseases, family environment and demographic characteristics such as age and gender can influence treatment success. Children with moderate to severe asthma have more psychiatric, social and physical problems.. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychiatric features and correlation of demographic features in children with asthma for their better treatment.. The current study was observational and cross-sectional with completion of General Health Questionnaire - 28 (GHQ-28) and Demographic Information Questionnaire. The population constituted 177 subjects. The samples were selected by accessible method. Data were analyzed by SPSS-16 (Statistical Package for Social Science), and correlation between the variables was investigated through T and Chi-Square tests.. The mean age of participants was 10 ± 4 years (66% girls and 34% boys). The incidence of depression was found to be 45%, which occurred in 64.5% of the boys and 35.5% of the girls. Among the children`s parents with psychiatric disturbance 2.6% smoked cigarettes, and 53.9% and 46.1% of the children with depression were born naturally by cesarean, respectively. Significant correlation existed between questionnaire score, social interaction, weight, and height of children (P > 0.055). Significant correlation was found between social interaction and gender (P = 0.023).. Despite high incidence of depression among hospitalized children with asthma, and correlation of some demographic variables, it is recommended that they are evaluated for psychiatric status and treatment along with treating their asthma. Serious psychological problems as well as recommended treatment for patients with asthma should be considered..

The liver is a multifactorial organ which is involved in a number of critical excretory, synthetic and metabolic functions. Although the term ''liver function test'' is commonly used, it is imprecise since many of the tests, such as transaminase, do not measure liver function. Therefore, these tests should be referred to as ''liver enzyme tests'', and ''liver function tests'' should be the term used to measure hepatocyte synthetic functions, such as serum albumin and prothrombin time. Furthermore, commonly used biochemical tests may be normal in a patient with liver disease (compensated cirrhosis) or be abnormal in a case with a healthy liver. In this article different aspects of liver function tests and the approach to abnormal liver function tests are reviewed..

The current study introduces a case with adrenal insufficiency that was suspected to have congenital adrenal hypoplasia because of undescended testis and failure to thrive due to muscle involvement.. The patient was a 34-month-old boy who had loss of consciousness, hypotension, hypoglycemia, hyponatremia and hyperkalemia with severe failure to thrive, hyper pigmentation of mucosa, hypotonia and no hypospadias. He was resistant to serum therapy and responded to hydrocortisone. Laboratory study elucidated elevated levels of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and muscle enzymes, decreased serum cortisol levels.. Adrenal hypoplasia congenita is a differential diagnosis for adrenal insufficiency. Undescended testis, especially in absence of hypospadiasis, is a clue to diagnose and treat this lethal disease..

Empyema in pediatric, if not treated adequately, would be an aggressive disease with many complications. Complete treatment of empyema includes broad antibiotics administration during the first week of the disease. However, in some cases, organized fibrinous tissue prevents antibiotic penetration and surgical intervention is required.. The aim of this study was to compare the duration of admission, duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy, time to response to treatment, and outcomes of medical and surgical interventions..Patients and In a descriptive, retrospective, and observational study, 60 patients with empyema were included; 35 were treated medically (medical group) and 25 surgically (surgical group).. Age and sex were not significantly different between the two groups. Only one of the patients in the medical group and one in the surgical group had immune deficiency. Coughing was presented in 25 patients in medical group and in 17 patients in surgical group as a symptom. Hospitalization days of were significantly lower in the medical group (12.4 ± 5.5) compared with the surgical group (20.4 ± 5.2) (P = 0.041). Duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy was not significantly lower in the medical group compared with the surgical group (P = 0.085). Time to response to treatment (from the admission day to the clinical improvement) was significantly lower in the medical group compared with the surgical one (P = 0.024). Mortality was 0% in both groups.. If medical treatment gets started early in the course of empyema, prognosis would be excellent. Besides, there was no significant difference in short- and long-term outcomes between medical or surgical interventions..