Emergency medicine clinics of North America
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Neurologic diseases are a major cause of death and disability in elderly patients. Due to the physiologic changes and increased comorbidities that occur as people age, neurologic diseases are more common in geriatric patients and a major cause of death and disability in this population. This article discusses the elderly patient presenting to the emergency department with acute ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, chronic subdural hematoma, traumatic brain injury, seizures, and central nervous system infections. This article reviews the subtle presentations, difficult workups, and complicated treatment decisions as they pertain to our older patients."
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Aug 2016
ReviewEvaluation and Management of Chest Pain in the Elderly.
Geriatric patients are at increased risk for serious morbidity and mortality from life-threatening causes of chest pain. This article covers 5 life-threatening causes of chest pain in the elderly: acute coronary syndrome, aortic dissection, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, and esophageal rupture. ⋯ When a diagnosis is made, treatment must be aggressive. The elderly benefit from optimal care.
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The older adult patient with syncope is one of the most challenging evaluations for the emergency physician. It requires clinical skill, patience, and knowledge of specific older adult issues. ⋯ This is likely best done as preset protocols prior to individual patient encounters. Emergency physicians evaluate elders with syncope every day and should rise to the challenge to do it well.
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With an aging population, emergency department clinicians can expect an increase in geriatric patients presenting with abdominal pain. Compared with younger patients, this patient population is less likely to present with classic symptoms, physical examination findings, and laboratory values of abdominal disease. However, the morbidity and mortality associated with elderly patients presenting with abdominal pathologic conditions are significant. For this reason, the clinician must be familiar with some subtle and not so subtle differences when caring for the geriatric patient with abdominal pain to ensure timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment.