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Octreotide for Acquired Chylothorax in Pediatric Patients Post-Cardiothoracic Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Chylothorax is a life-threatening complication post-corrective congenital heart surgery. Octreotide is used for treatment of refractory chylothoraces, with no standardized treatment protocol and a paucity of literature describing its efficacy. Our aim was to provide an update on the safety and efficacy of octreotide for the treatment of refractory chylothoraces in neonatal and pediatric patients’ post-corrective congenital heart surgery. We performed a systematic review of PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. Only intravenous octreotide treatment was included. A total of 621 patients across 27 studies were included. Studies included were 11 case series, 5 case studies, and 11 retrospective cohort studies. Variation in treatment regimens were reported. Treatment efficacy was reported in 95% (23/27) of studies. Definitions of treatment efficacy were reported in 33% (9/27) of studies. No prospective or randomized control trials were available for inclusion. Octreotide efficacy is widely reported despite a lack of standardization on criteria for treatment initiation or what defines an appropriate response to therapy.Please check and confirm whether the edit made to the article title is in order.Yes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Children’s Heart Centre, Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland

    A. C. Jenkinson & T. Prendiville

  2. Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Children’s Heart Centre, Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland

    J. McGuinness

  3. Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Heart Centre, Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

    T. Prendiville

Authors
  1. A. C. Jenkinson
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  2. J. McGuinness
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  3. T. Prendiville
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Contributions

AJ contributed to conception, acquisition of the data, screening of titles, draft, and revising of the work. JMcG contributed to revising of the work and final approval of version to be published. TP contributed to conception, revising of the work, and final approval of version to be published

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Correspondence to T. Prendiville.

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Appendix

Appendix

(See Figs. 2 and 3).

Fig. 2
figure 2

Pubmed and medline search strategy

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Fig. 3
figure 3

CINAHL search strategy

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Jenkinson, A.C., McGuinness, J. & Prendiville, T. Octreotide for Acquired Chylothorax in Pediatric Patients Post-Cardiothoracic Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease: A Systematic Review. Pediatr Cardiol 44, 297–305 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-022-03024-6

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