Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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This pilot study examines the prevalence of cardiac risk factors in a cohort of agricultural workers, assesses their knowledge of local emergency health services and investigates their decision-making abilities with regard to when and how they would seek help when experiencing chest pain. ⋯ This cohort of agricultural workers were at considerable risk of experiencing acute coronary events, but many would make decisions about when and how to seek medical help for chest pain that are at odds with published community guidelines. These results highlight the need for education to improve knowledge of local emergency services and address behavioural barriers to accessing care.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2011
Performance of a sensitive troponin assay in the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction in the emergency department.
Troponin assays have high diagnostic value for myocardial infarction (MI), but sensitivity has been weak early after chest pain onset. New, so-called 'sensitive' troponin assays have recently been introduced. Two studies report high sensitivity for assays taken at ED presentation, but studied selected populations. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic performance for MI of a sensitive troponin assay measured at ED presentation in an unselected chest pain population without ECG evidence of ischaemia. ⋯ Sensitive TnI assay at ED presentation has insufficient diagnostic accuracy for detection of MI. Serial biomarker assays in patients with negative initial TnI are required.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2011
Case ReportsPneumocephalus and Brown-Sequard syndrome caused by a stab wound to the back.
This report describes a case of Brown-Sequard syndrome in a man who presented to the ED after a stabbing to the left scapula region. The incidental finding of pneumocephalus found on CT scan during workup lead to cervical MRI that revealed the spinal cord pathology associated with Brown-Sequard syndrome.