A modern view on the treatment of acute bronchiolitis in pediatric intensive care units: a review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The literature has accumulated enough data on the treatment of children with acute bronchiolitis (OB). However, this information is formed mainly on the general population of patients with OB and is often not applicable to patients with a severe course of the disease. From the standpoint of evidence-based medicine, routine use of medications is not recommended in modern consent documents, and there are also no clear recommendations on respiratory support and certain aspects of intensive care in children with OB. OBJECTIVES. To analyze approaches to therapy in children with severe acute course in need of intensive care, and to assess the validity, effectiveness and safety of the use of the analyzed groups of drugs and respiratory strategies. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The analysis of publications in the electronic databases PubMed and the Russian Scientific Citation Index on the keywords “bronchiolitis”, “intensive care units”, “critical care”, “fluid therapy”, “respiratory therapy”, “ventilation”, “co-morbidity”; “respiratory syncytial virus”; “hypertonic saline” was carried out, “corticosteroids”; “epinephrine”; “high-flow oxygen therapy”, “inhalation”, “infant”, “bronchiolitis in children”. The date of the last search is January 15, 2022. RESULTS. This systematic review provides information on the etiology and risk factors of severe acute respiratory syndrome in children, from the standpoint of evidence-based medicine, studies on the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome are characterized, including in the intensive care unit with glucocorticosteroids, inhalations of bronchodilators, epinephrine, 3 % hypertonic sodium chloride solution, respiratory support, high-flow oxygenation, noninvasive ventilation, artificial ventilation, antibiotics, air-helium mixture. CONCLUSIONS. Currently, there is more information that infants with OB show a high degree of heterogeneity, while the main uncertainty lies in a misunderstanding of the processes, which patients will benefit most from a particular treatment method. Further research is needed to fill the research deficit in children with a severe course of OB.