Annals of emergency medicine
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Reported is a case of myocardial infarction following electrical injury in a previously healthy 57-year-old man. After coming into contact with high tension electrical current, the patient noted chest pain and electrical burns to his extremities. An electrocardiographic diagnosis of inferior wall myocardial infarction was made in the emergency department and was later substantiated by cardiac enzyme and angiographic studies. Although myocardial infarction following electrical injury has rarely been reported in the literature, most cases of severe electrical injury probably warrant cardiac monitoring.
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During a three-week period, two patients who had attempted suicide by injecting themselves with commercially available household spray insecticides were seen in our emergency department. Both presented with cellulitis at and adjacent to the injection sites, and both were admitted for intravenous antibiotics, warm soaks, and elevation. In both patients abscesses subsequently developed in the areas of cellulitis. It is not clear whether the pathologic processes in these two patients were primarily due to inoculation of microorganisms or to the effects of the insecticide per se.
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The growing number of aged in the United States will continue to increase the demand for medical services, including emergency care. In a medium-sized city, 22% of 14,400 emergency medical service responses were to patients over 65 years of age. ⋯ Men were more likely to suffer a cardiac condition; women, an injury. Elderly patients were 1.7 times more likely to require paramedic-accompanied transportation to hospital.