Pre-interventional tips for children

As the benefits of interventional procedures are accepted by the majority of patients, more and more parents are now opting for minimally invasive interventional procedures. At the same time, parents know very little about the preoperative preparation for the new procedure. Let me introduce to parents and friends the considerations for interventional treatment in children. Interventional surgery is also a surgical procedure. Before surgery, try to keep the child in good nutritional condition and avoid many unfavorable factors such as cold, fever and cough. Except for emergency surgery, surgery should not be scheduled until the child is basically normal. Infants and children in diapers who have diaper rash or skin infection in the groin area should be treated actively and surgery should be performed only after the skin is normal. Preoperative tests (routine blood, urine, complete set of blood transfusion, complete set of coagulation, liver function, kidney function, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, etc.) are also essential. Special attention should be paid to examinations related to bleeding and coagulation to avoid intraoperative thrombosis or postoperative hemostasis difficulties. Interventional procedures need to be performed under general anesthesia because pediatric patients cannot cooperate during interventional procedures, therefore, preoperative preparations should be prepared according to the requirements of general anesthesia procedures. In order to prevent regurgitation of gastric contents leading to aspiration and asphyxia during general anesthesia, preoperative fasting should be strictly fasted according to the age of the pediatric patient. We fast for different periods according to age. Children within 6 months of age should fast for 4 hours and 2 hours of water; children between 6 months and 3 years of age should fast for 6 hours and 3 hours of water; children older than 3 years of age should fast for 8 hours and 4 hours of water. Also, to reduce the risk of hypotension and hypoglycemia during the procedure, it is best to have the pediatrician eat nutritious foods prior to fasting. The last point to be said is that the insertion of catheters through the femoral artery or vein at the beginning of the endovascular intervention and the local compression to stop bleeding until the catheter is removed at the end of the procedure can obstruct blood flow to the lower extremities, so the infusion for patients undergoing the intervention should avoid the lower extremities as much as possible, and also avoid the diseased limb or site as much as possible. Do not draw blood or transfuse at the femoral artery or femoral vein before surgery to avoid difficulties in puncture during surgery. Preoperative fasting in small infants and obese infants often leads to collapse of superficial veins, making it difficult to puncture, and it is recommended to puncture the indwelling needle for infusion before fasting.