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CC BY 4.0 · European J Pediatr Surg Rep. 2017; 05(01): e12-e16
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1599795
Case Report
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart • New York

Fatal Complications after Pediatric Surgical Interventions: Lessons Learned

Willemijn M. Klein
1   Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
,
Mayke E. Van der Putten
2   Department of Neonatology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
,
Benno Kusters
3   Department of Pathology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
,
Bas H. Verhoeven
4   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

20 May 2016

26 January 2017

Publication Date:
22 March 2017 (online)

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Abstract

Placement of catheters, drains, shunts, and tubes in children can lead to serious or even fatal complications at the moment of placement, such as hemorrhage at insertion, or in the longterm, such as infections and migration into adjacent organs. The clinician should always be aware of these potential complications, especially if the child is unwell. For postmortem diagnostic evaluation, either with a computed tomography scan or an invasive autopsy, all tubes, drains, shunts, and/or catheters should be left in situ. We present three cases with fatal complications after the placement of a chest drain, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, and gastrostomy tube.

Keywords

ventriculoperitoneal shunt - unexpected death - complications - feeding tube - chest drain
 

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