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The following is a summary of “Incidence, outcome and risk factors of perioperative pulmonary complications in pediatric patients with mediastinal mass,” published in the February 2025 issue of BMC Pediatrics by Feng et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify the incidence, outcome, and risk factors of perioperative pulmonary complications in children with mediastinal mass for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS). 

They enrolled 247 patients with pediatric undergoing mediastinal mass resection from June 2016 to June 2022. They reviewed medical records for characteristics, symptoms, imaging, intraoperative data, and pulmonary complications, defined as intraoperative hypoxemia, postoperative respiratory failure, infection, or atelectasis. They analyzed risk factors using univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression. 

The results showed a 25.9% incidence of perioperative pulmonary complications, with postoperative pneumonia most common. Children with complications had longer mechanical ventilation (186.5 min), ICU stay (1.5 days), and hospital stay (9 days, all P < 0.001). Risk factors included cardiopulmonary compression symptoms (OR 21.337, P < 0.001), malignant tumor (OR 2.681, P = 0.043), anterior mediastinum (OR 2.616, P = 0.037), tumor volume ≥0.65 (OR 3.607, P = 0.003), intraoperative transfusion (OR 1.991, P = 0.004), and surgery time ≥150 min (OR 2.363, P = 0.056). 

Investigators found pulmonary complications were common in children with mediastinal mass, prolonged mechanical ventilation, ICU stay, and hospital stay. They identified cardiopulmonary compression symptoms, malignant tumor, anterior mediastinum, tumor volume ≥0.65, intraoperative transfusion, and longer surgery time as risk factors. 

Source: bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-025-05419-9