Irish journal of medical science
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Acute appendicitis (AA) is a common cause of abdominal pain resulting in admission to the emergency room. Imaging methods such as ultrasonography and CT are usually used for diagnosing acute appendicitis. Reports regarding CT scans conducted during night shifts are prepared by private teleradiologists. ⋯ POCUS performed by an emergency medicine specialist showed a higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of AA compared with private teleradiology. Hence, POCUS is more successful in diagnosing AA than private teleradiology. In conclusion, we recommend the concurrent use of AS and POCUS in emergency departments rather than private teleradiology for the diagnosis of AA.
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In emergency medicine, ultrasound is frequently used in the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and evaluation of treatment of critically ill patients simultaneously, due to its bedside applicability, rapidness and inexpensive cost. ⋯ It was determined that focused cardiac ultrasound performed by emergency physician was sufficient in terms of accuracy of findings and diagnosis, and played an important role in excluding or including fatal diagnoses and conditions. The success rates of emergency physician can be further increased with long-term and comprehensive training programs.
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Observational Study
The DA VINCI study: is Ireland achieving ESC/EAS guideline-directed LDL-C goals?
The EU-wide, cross-sectional observational study of lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) use in secondary and primary care (DA VINCI) assessed the proportion of patients achieving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals recommended by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) guidelines and provided an insight into regional use of LLT in Europe, including Ireland. ⋯ These results highlight the disparity between dyslipidaemia management in clinical practice in Ireland and guideline recommendations.
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The goal of HCV treatment is eradication of the virus to prevent complications associated with the disease and decrease all-cause mortality. This work compared sustained viral response (SVR) 12 weeks after end of treatment of chronic HCV patients with different treatment regimens, namely 4 regimens. Two hundred treatment naive chronic HCV patients were selected and divided into 4 equal groups as follows: group A received pegylated interferon (peg IFN) and ribavirin (RBV); group B received peg IFN, RBV, and sofosbuvir (SOF); group C received RBV and SOF; group D received SOF, daclatasvir (DCV), and RBV. ⋯ SOF and DCV and RBV have the highest SVR12 and least side effects compared to other treatment regimens. Although group D patients initially had poor pretreatment investigations relative to other groups, they proved to have the highest tolerability to this regimen. Such findings hold promising line of treatment and better prognosis even for chronic HCV patients with poor liver condition.