Microcirculation in critically ill children

Abstract

__Abstract__ \n \nThe aims of this thesis were to assess the feasibility of orthogonal polarization \nspectral (OPS) imaging of the buccal microcirculation in children and to \ninvestigate the effect of disease and critical care treatments on microcirculatory \nhemodynamics. To fulfil these aims two groups of children were studied: those \nwith presumably normal microcirculation and those who were critically ill with \nsevere respiratory failure or with sepsis. \nRoutine hemodynamic monitoring in critically ill pediatric patients has \nlimitations. Restoration of global hemodynamics does not always mean \nthat adequate regional tissue perfusion is achieved, especially in conditions \nof impaired autoregulation such as occurs during critical illness. The \nmicrocirculation is an essential hemodynamic compartment and as such plays \nan important role in (patho-) physiology of the circulation. Taken together, \nmonitoring the microcirculation, possibly, could be a valuable addition to the \nhemodynamic monitoring of the critically ill pediatric patient