Emergency medicine clinics of North America
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Nov 2017
ReviewCerebral Venous Thrombosis: A Challenging Neurologic Diagnosis.
Headache is a common emergency department chief complaint. Although most are benign, emergency physicians must rapidly identify and manage the uncommon, sometimes subtle, presentation of headache from a life-threatening cause. Cerebral venous thrombosis imparts significant morbidity and mortality, and can be a challenging diagnosis. ⋯ The disease can present with 1 or more clinical syndromes, including intracranial hypertension with headaches, focal neurologic deficits, seizures, and encephalopathy. Diagnosis requires imaging. Treatment includes stabilization, management of complications, and anticoagulation.
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This article discusses abdominal aortic emergencies. There is a common thread of risk factors and causes of these diseases, including age, male gender, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and connective tissue disorders. ⋯ Computed tomography scan is the gold standard for diagnosis of pathologic conditions of the aorta in the hemodynamically stable patient. Treatment consists of a combination of blood pressure and heart rate control and, in many cases, emergent surgical intervention.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Nov 2017
ReviewVascular Access Complications: An Emergency Medicine Approach.
Millions of central venous and arterial catheters are placed across the United States annually as mechanisms of obtaining advanced hemodynamic monitoring and facilitating acute resuscitation. Although presumably life saving or sustaining in many circumstances, current literature identifies the preprocedural and postprocedural complications of infection, thrombosis, embolism, and iatrogenic injury as resulting in patient morbidity and mortality. Today, through the application of aseptic technique, performance of operator training, and the utilization of ultrasound, emergency physicians may limit vascular access complications and improve patient outcomes.