Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Patients’ Results may Not Improve With Tight Blood Sugar Control

New research has highlighted the effectiveness of standard care over tight blood sugar control in the intensive care unit for pediatric cardiac surgery patients, which did precious little to improve patients' outcomes. "Tight glycemic control using insulin was shown, in some studies, to improve outcomes in adult cardiac surgery patients, but we didn't know whether children would experience similar benefits," says Michael G. Gaies, M.D., M.P.H., senior author of the study.

"We found no benefits of tight glycemic control, but the reasons are unclear," says Gaies.

Gaies said that routine control of blood sugar levels in pediatric cardiac intensive care units is not straightforward as there are concerns about the effects of insulin-induced hypoglycemia on the developing brain.



Source-Medindia