BACKGROUND: Individuals with nephrolithiasis frequently present to the Emergency Department (ED). Safety and quality principles are often applied in pediatric EDs to children presenting with nephrolithiasis, such as limiting ionizing radiation exposure and opioid analgesics. However, it is unknown whether pediatric EDs apply these same principles to adult patients who present with nephrolithiasis. We hypothesized that adult patients would be associated with higher use of radiation-based imaging and opioid analgesics.

OBJECTIVE: To assess variations in diagnostic and treatment interventions and hospital utilization between pediatric and adult patients presenting to the pediatric ED with nephrolithiasis.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study was conducted, examining outcomes for pediatric (<18-years-old) versus adult (≥18-years-old) patients in 42 pediatric EDs from 2009 to 2020 using the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database. Patients with an ICD-9/10 principal diagnosis code of nephrolithiasis with no nephrolithiasis-related visits within the prior 6 months were included. Primary outcomes were imaging, medications, and surgical interventions. Secondary outcomes were hospital admissions, 90-day ED revisits, and 90-day readmissions. Generalized linear mixed models with random effects were used to adjust for confounding and clustering.

RESULTS: In total, 16,117 patients with 17,837 encounters were included. Most hospitals were academic (95.2%), and a plurality were located in the South (38.1%). Most patients were <18-years-old (84.4%, median (interquartile range): 15 (12-17)-years-old), female (57.9%), and White (76.3%), and 17.1% were Hispanic/Latino. Most had no complex chronic conditions (89.2%) and no chronic disease per pediatric medical complexity algorithm (51.5%). For the primary outcome, adults, relative to pediatric patients, who presented to the pediatric ED with nephrolithiasis had higher adjusted odds of receiving computerized tomography (CT) scans (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.43 [95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.29-1.59]) and opioid analgesics (OR 1.45 [95%CI 1.33-1.58]) (Summary Figure). Secondary outcomes showed that adults, relative to pediatric patients, had lower adjusted odds of hospital admissions, 90-day ED revisits, and 90-day readmissions.

DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that certain pediatric safety and quality principles, such as limiting ionizing radiation exposure and opioid analgesic prescriptions, are not being equally applied to pediatric and adult patients who present to pediatric EDs with nephrolithiasis. The mechanism of these findings remains to be elucidated.

CONCLUSIONS: Variations in care for individuals with nephrolithiasis reflect an opportunity for quality improvement in pediatric EDs and inform work exploring optimal care pathways for all patients presenting to the pediatric ED with nephrolithiasis.

<p>Supported by a Pilot Grant from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness (to D.C.). D.C. is also supported by the NIH/NIDDK (K23 DK125670). G.T. was supported by the NIH/NIDDK (K23 DK106428). Ja.G. was supported by NIH/NIDDK (K08 DK110536). M.D. was supported by the NIH/NIDDK (K23 DK093556). The NIH and NIDDK had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the NIDDK nor NIH. G.T. serves on the scientific advisory boards for Allena Pharmaceuticals, Novome Biotechnology, and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and serves as a consultant for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, all of which are unrelated to this work. M.D. receives research funding from Mallinckrodt unrelated to this work. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest. Portions of this study were presented at the Pediatric Academic Society annual meeting, May 5-8, 2020, Toronto, Canada.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To assess the prevalence of therapy-related kidney outcomes in survivors of Wilms tumor (WT).</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>This prospective cohort study included survivors of WT who were ≥5 years old and ≥1 year from completing therapy, excluding those with pre-existing hypertension, prior dialysis or kidney transplant. Participants completed 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Abnormal blood pressure (BP) was defined as ≥90 percentile. Masked hypertension was defined as having normal office BP and abnormal ABPM findings. Urine was analyzed for KIM-1, IL-18, EGF, albumin, and creatinine. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated using the bedside CKiD equation. Recent kidney ultrasounds and echocardiograms were reviewed for contralateral kidney size and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), respectively. Clinical follow-up data was collected for approximately 2 years following study enrollment.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Thirty-two participants (median age 13.6 [IQR: 10.5-16.3] years; 75% ≥Stage 3 WT) were evaluated at a median of 8.7 years (IQR: 6.5-10.8) post-therapy; 29 participants underwent unilateral radical nephrectomy, two bilateral partial nephrectomy, and one radical and contralateral partial nephrectomy. 72% received kidney radiotherapy and 75% received doxorubicin. Recent median eGFR was 95.6 ml/min/1.73m (IQR: 84.6-114.0; 11 (34%) had an eGFR &lt;90). Abnormal ABPM results were found in 22/29 participants (76%), masked hypertension in 10/29 (34%), and microalbuminuria in 2/32 (6%). 22/32 (69%) participants had abnormal EGF; few had abnormal KIM-1 or IL-18. Seven participants with previous unilateral nephrectomy lacked compensatory contralateral kidney hypertrophy. None had LVH.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>In survivors of WT, adverse kidney outcomes were common and should be closely monitored.</p>

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION: </strong>Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk progressing to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). The majority of CKD causes in children are related to congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract, which may be treated by urologic care.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To examine the association of ESKD with urologic care in children with CKD.</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>This was a nested case-control study within the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) prospective cohort study that included children aged 1-16 years with non-glomerular causes of CKD. The primary exposure was prior urologic referral with or without surgical intervention. Incidence density sampling matched each case of ESKD to up to three controls on duration of time from CKD onset, sex, race, age at baseline visit, and history of low birth weight. Conditional logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate rate ratios (RRs) for the incidence of ESKD.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Sixty-six cases of ESKD were matched to 153 controls. Median age at baseline study visit was 12 years; 67% were male, and 7% were black. Median follow-up time from CKD onset was 14.9 years. Seventy percent received urologic care, including 100% of obstructive uropathy and 96% of reflux nephropathy diagnoses. Cases had worse renal function at their baseline visit and were less likely to have received prior urologic care. After adjusting for income, education, and insurance status, urology referral with surgery was associated with 50% lower risk of ESKD (RR 0.50 [95% confidence interval [CI] 0.26-0.997), compared to no prior urologic care (Figure). After excluding obstructive uropathy and reflux nephropathy diagnoses, which were highly correlated with urologic surgery, the association was attenuated (RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.24-2.18).</p>

<p><strong>DISCUSSION: </strong>In this study, urologic care was commonly but not uniformly provided to children with non-glomerular causes of CKD. Underlying specific diagnoses play an important role in both the risk of ESKD and potential benefits of urologic surgery.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Within the CKiD cohort, children with non-glomerular causes of CKD often received urologic care. Urology referral with surgery was associated with lower risk of ESKD compared to no prior urologic care but depended on specific underlying diagnoses.</p>

<p><strong>PURPOSE: </strong>To determine the association between urology consultation and emergency department (ED) revisits for children with urinary stones.</p>

<p><strong>MATERIALS AND METHODS: </strong>This retrospective cohort study included patients ≤18 years-old who presented to an ED in South Carolina with a urinary stone from 1997-2015. The primary exposure was urology consultation during the index ED visit. The primary outcome was a stone-related ED revisit occurring within 180 days of discharge from an index ED visit. Secondary outcomes included CT utilization, inpatient admission, and emergent surgery.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Among 5,642 index ED visits for acute urinary stones, 11% resulted in at least one stone-related ED revisit within 180 days. Fifty-nine percent of revisits occurred within 30-days of discharge and 39% were due to pain. The odds of ED revisit were highest within the first 48-hours of discharge (odds ratio [OR] 22.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 18.0-28.5) and rapidly decreased thereafter. Urology consultation was associated with a 37% lower adjusted odds of ED revisit (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.44-0.90) and 68% lower odds of CT utilization across all ED visits (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.15-0.69). Among those who revisited, the frequency of pain complaints was 27% among those with urologic consultation at the index visit and 39% among those without.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Urology consultation was associated with decreased ED revisits and CT imaging among pediatric patients with urinary stones. Future studies should identify the patients that benefit most from urology consultation and ascertain processes of care that decrease ED revisits among high-risk patients.</p>

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) often require noncardiac surgery. We compared outcomes following open and laparoscopic intraabdominal surgery among children with and without CHD.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>We performed a retrospective cohort study using the 2013-2015 National Surgical Quality Improvement Project-Pediatrics. We matched 45,012 children &lt;18years old who underwent laparoscopic surgery to 45,012 children who underwent open surgery. We determined the associations between laparoscopic (versus open) surgery and 30-day mortality, in-hospital mortality, 30-day morbidity, and postoperative length-of-stay.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Among children with minor CHD, laparoscopic surgery was associated with lower 30-day mortality (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.34 [95% Confidence Interval 0.15-0.79]), inhospital mortality (OR 0.42 [0.22-0.81]) and 30-day morbidity (OR 0.61 [0.50-0.73]). As CHD severity increased, this benefit of laparoscopic surgery decreased for 30-day morbidity (ptrend=0.01) and in-hospital mortality (ptrend=0.05), but not for 30-day mortality (ptrend=0.27). Length-of-stay was shorter for laparoscopic approaches for children at cost of higher readmissions. On subgroup analysis, laparoscopy was associated with lower odds of postoperative blood transfusion in all children.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Intraabdominal laparoscopic surgery compared to open surgery is associated with decreased morbidity in patients with no CHD and lower morbidity and mortality in patients with minor CHD, but not in those with more severe CHD.</p>

<p><strong>LEVEL-OF-EVIDENCE: </strong>Level III: Treatment Study.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>To determine the risk of morbidity and mortality after laparoscopic surgery among children with congenital heart disease (CHD).</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>Cohort study using the 2013-2014 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatrics, which prospectively collected data at 56 and 64 hospitals in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Primary exposure was CHD. Primary outcome was overall in-hospital postoperative mortality. Secondary outcomes included 30-day mortality and 30-day morbidity (any nondeath adverse event). Among 34?543 children who underwent laparoscopic surgery, 1349, 1106, and 266 had minor, major, and severe CHD, respectively. After propensity score matching within each stratum of CHD severity, morbidity and mortality were compared between children with and without CHD.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Children with severe CHD had higher overall mortality and 30-day morbidity (OR 12.31, 95% CI 1.59-95.01; OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.57-4.01, respectively), compared with matched controls. Overall mortality and 30-day morbidity were also higher among children with major CHD compared with children without CHD (OR 3.46, 95% CI 1.49-8.06; OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.65-2.61, respectively). Children with minor CHD had similar mortality outcomes, but had higher 30-day morbidity compared with children without CHD (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.37-2.13).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Children with major or severe CHD have higher morbidity and mortality after laparoscopic surgery. Clinicians should consider the increased risks of laparoscopic surgery for these children during medical decision making.</p>

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION: </strong>Adolescent males with varicoceles present a dilemma for surveillance and treatment. Testicular volumetrics have not been shown to predict SA outcomes. Serial SAs are thus recommended in asymptomatic adolescent males with varicoceles and normal testicular development, but the natural history of semen parameters is unknown.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To explore the natural history of semen parameters in adolescent boys with a left varicocele under active surveillance.</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>Adolescents with an asymptomatic unilateral left varicocele, Tanner V development, normal testicular volumes, and an initial SA were retrospectively reviewed in a single-institution prospectively followed cohort. Total motile count (TMC) was calculated. A cutoff of TMC Z 20 million was used to dichotomize SA results into "normal" or "poor." Those with poor SA were offered repeat SA. Cumulative probabilities of normal TMC over successive rounds of SA were calculated. Bivariate models were used to explore associations of a second consecutive poor TMC with age and varicocele grade.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>A total of 216 patients provided an initial SA between 1992 and 2015. We excluded 17 for a history of cryptorchidism or incomplete SA data for a final cohort of 199 patients with median follow-up of 3.3 years (interquartile range 1.5-5.6 years). The mean age at initial SA was 17.9 years (range 14.8-21.8 years). One hundred and nine out of 199 had an initial normal TMC. Of the 90 out of 199 with an initially poor TMC, 51 had repeat SA and 24 of the 51 patients improved to normal TMC. Of the 27 patients with two consecutive poor TMCs, 15 had a third SA and five out of 15 improved to normal TMC. Thus, cumulatively, 55%, 67%, and 69% of all patients had a normal TMC after an initial, second, and third SA, respectively. However, fewer patients in each round of SA normalized their TMC (Figure). Neither age nor varicocele grade was associated with a second consecutive poor TMC.</p>

<p><strong>DISCUSSION: </strong>Two-thirds of Tanner V boys with an uncorrected varicocele and normal testicular volumes achieve a normal TMC regardless of varicocele grade or age. Despite Tanner V development, 47% with an initial "poor" SA will improve to normal status without surgery. However, a small subgroup of patients will have persistently poor TMC and thus should be targeted in future research for timely intervention.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Semen parameters improve over time. SA should be followed and repeated at least once in symptomatic Tanner V boys with varicoceles.</p>

<p><strong>PURPOSE: </strong>The main indications for adolescent varicocelectomy are testicular hypotrophy or pain. However, we have previously shown that both serial total testicular volume and volume differential are weakly associated with semen quality. The ultimate patient goal is paternity, but semen analysis is critical to appropriate management of varicocele. We hypothesize that varicocelectomy improves total motile count (TMC) among patients who only have abnormal semen analysis (SA) parameters, but not among those with potential hormonal dysfunction such as Klinefelter syndrome or cryptorchidism.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>We retrospectively reviewed our registry of adolescent males followed with a clinical left varicocele. For this study, subjects without sustained testicular asymmetry, who were Tanner V, and gave at least one preoperative SA were included. Subjects were excluded if they had embolization for their varicocele or no postoperative SA. Primary outcome was change in TMC before and after surgery, compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test after stratifying by surgical indication. Secondary outcomes included rates of improved TMC and normalized TMC (&gt;20 million) after surgery, compared across covariates using the Fisher exact test.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Seventeen patients met the eligibility criteria, 11 of whom underwent repair for only abnormal preoperative TMC. Overall, median age (interquartile range [IQR]) at first preoperative SA was 17.6 (15.9-17.9) years. The median preoperative TMC across all SA was 2.8 (0.7-7.4) million. The median age at surgery was 18.2 (16.8-18.9) years. Postoperatively, the median TMC across all SA increased to 18.2 (3.6-18.2) million (Wilcoxon signed rank test, p&nbsp;&lt;&nbsp;0.01; see Figure). The improvement in TMC occurred primarily in the group who only had abnormal preoperative TMC (82% improved, 55% normalized); lack of improvement was seen in patients who had a history of Klinefelter or orchiopexy for cryptorchidism.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Adolescent varicocele patients should undergo SA after development of Tanner V. Varicocelectomy has a high success rate for improving TMC in adolescent or young adult males who only have abnormal TMC and no history of cryptorchidism.</p>

<p>Pediatric stone disease is increasing in incidence and healthcare costs. With more years at-risk for stone recurrence during their lifetimes, children with nephrolithiasis constitute a high-risk patient population that requires focused intervention through both medical and surgical means. Through high-quality future studies to compare methods of stone prevention and treatment, the burden of stone disease on the youngest members of society may be ameliorated.</p>

<p><strong>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: </strong>Quality improvement in surgery involves identifying patients at high risk for postoperative complications. We sought to assess the impact of race and procedure type on 30-day surgical morbidity in pediatric urology.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatrics (NSQIP-P) is a prospective registry of surgical cases from 50 and 56 pediatric hospitals in 2012 and 2013, respectively. We performed a cohort study of children followed in NSQIP-P who underwent urologic surgery. Forty unique operations were stratified into 6 clinically related procedure groups: ureteral, testicular, renal, urinary diversion, penile and urethral, or bladder procedures. Outcomes were 3 different composite measures of 30-day morbidity. Primary predictors were patient race and procedural group. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify associations between race, procedure type, and postoperative morbidity.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Of 114 395 patients in the NSQIP-P cohort, 11 791 underwent pediatric urologic procedures. Overall 30-day complication rate was 5.9% and was higher in bladder and urinary diversion procedures. On multivariate analyses, non-Hispanic black compared with non-Hispanic white children had higher odds of 30-day overall complications (odds ratio 1.34; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.74) and 30-day hospital-acquired infection (odds ratio 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.20). Bladder and urinary diversion procedures relative to testicular procedures had significantly higher odds of surgical morbidity across all composite outcome measures.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Black race and bladder and urinary diversion operations were significantly associated with 30-day surgical morbidity. Future efforts should identify processes of care that decrease postoperative morbidity among children.</p>