Pediatric paracorporeal and extracorporeal therapies (PPET) are increasingly applied to support children with multiple organ failure (MOF). These highly complex, resource intensive technologies lie at the interface of innovation and the highest complexity clinical care; in patients with MOF, multiple treatment modalities are frequently used simultaneously. However, lack of clinical guidelines or consensus statements to guide PPET use result in a lack of standardization of practice, compounded by limited dialogue between experts and institutions regarding PPET use, in particular in the application of multiple PPET modalities. Children are further disenfranchised due to the lack of medical devices optimized for the varied size and physiological differences in pediatric practice. There is a critical need for collaborative initiatives aimed at standardization of practice, quality improvement, research and innovation as they relate to the applications of PPET. The PPET Summit 2021 will transform these critical gaps into knowledge and research opportunities by bringing together, for the first time, pediatric and adult experts from across the globe in the fields of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, ventricular assist device, renal replacement therapy, extracorporeal liver support, and apheresis. The Summit will bring together local and international experts to define the current status of PPET, including the role of hybrid and tandem therapies; standardize current approaches; identify key knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to facilitate optimal patient care, and set a collaborative research and quality agenda to improve our understanding of PPET. This will provide an exciting and much needed framework to optimize the care of these patients and improve their outcomes. Preconference working groups, led by experts selected by the diverse organizing committee around the core domains ((1) patient and family experiences and outcomes; (2) pharmacokinetics; (3) standardization of terminology and quality metrics; (4) innovation; (5) ethics; (6) circuit and organ interactions and cross-talk) will work in a series of highly structured virtual workshops to maximize global participation in the months prior to the Summit to generate consensus statements. The Summit itself will include state of-the-art presentations from the experts to define the current status, underlining the importance of cross-pollination of multiple therapies and approaches. On the final day, a session entitled `Map the Future' will bring together summaries from the pre-conference workshops with all attendees to refine research imperatives for PPET initiatives, including discussion of potential future summits. The proceedings of the first PPET Summit will be disseminated as a series of leading articles in Critical Care and Resuscitation.
Through the Pediatric Paracorporeal and Extracorporeal Therapies (PPET) Summit 2021, we aim to create the first multi-modality, multi-specialty meeting focused on the entire spectrum of pediatric support devices across all subspecialties of pediatric critical care medicine. International experts and thought leaders in their respective fields related to PPET will work together across specialties to tackle today's clinical challenges, and will establish research and quality priorities for the future.
