JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of ultrasonography as an imaging modality. The introduction of real-time ultrasonography and Doppler units for the measurement of blood flow in the 1970s, recent advances in transducer design, signal processing, and miniaturization of electronics, along with the lack of radiation exposure, have been primarily responsible for the increased use of ultrasound. However, although ultrasonography can provide diagnostic information safely and easily, interpretation of the information requires an understanding of the physics behind ultrasound, how that physics is translated into ultrasound instrumentation, recognition of artifacts that are associated with the various types of ultrasonography, and identification of these artifacts in specific anatomic locations.
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Adults resuscitated from nontraumatic cardiac arrest who received intravenous epinephrine in doses chosen by the treating physician and who survived at least 6 hours were studied to determine if high-dose epinephrine produced more complications than standard-dose. A total of 68 patients were enrolled and evaluated for postresuscitation complications attributable to epinephrine, using a two-tailed t test, and contingency analysis. ⋯ Hospital discharge rates (18% in the high-dose vs 30% in the standard-dose group) and neurological status on discharge were not significantly different. High-dose epinephrine did not produce increased direct complications in this cardiac arrest population compared with standard-dose epinephrine.