The American journal of emergency medicine
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Spinal epidural hematoma is an accumulation of blood in the epidural space that can mechanically compress the spinal cord. It is an uncommon condition, and most cases occur spontaneously. Detailed evaluation of neurologic deficit and detailed history taking are important tools for early diagnosis, and magnetic resonance imaging is currently the diagnostic method of choice. ⋯ Cervical spinal epidural hematoma was confirmed after obtaining magnetic resonance imaging. Patients with this uncommon presentation must be carefully distinguished from acute stroke. This article aimed to highlight the potential pitfalls in diagnosing acute hemiparesis with no cranial nerves deficits and the importance of clinical suspicion.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Less painful arterial blood gas sampling using jet injection of 2% lidocaine: a randomized controlled clinical trial.
The aim of this study was to compare pain levels from arterial blood gas (ABG) sampling performed with or without application of lidocaine via jet injector. ⋯ Lidocaine jet injection provides beneficial and rapid anesthesia, resulting in less pain and a greater rate of successful ABG sampling. Therefore, it is recommended for use before ABG sampling to decrease the patient's pain and the number of unsuccessful attempts and to enhance the patient's satisfaction.
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A 42-year-old man noted decreased urine output and visited our emergency department. He said that 3 days previously, he had gotten drunk and fallen down a set of stairs. Blood tests and abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography revealed no abnormalities. ⋯ Microscopic examination of his ascitic fluid sediment revealed the presence of hyaline casts enclosing renal tubular epithelial cells. Cystography demonstrated contrast medium leakage into the peritoneal cavity, which led to a diagnosis of bladder rupture. Examination of ascitic fluid sediment is simple and very useful for diagnosing bladder rupture.
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Cardiomegaly is a common but nonspecific finding in the emergency department. The etiology may be explained by left ventricular dilation, biventricular dilation, right ventricular dilation, or pericardial abnormalities, or it may be found to be spurious on the echocardiogram. Rarely, isolated abnormalities of the atrium, particularly the left atrium, may cause abnormalities on the chest radiograph but will not cause true cardiomegaly. ⋯ The diagnosis of a rare huge left atrial aneurysm was finally established by multidetector-row computed tomography, which had been seldom used as a diagnostic tool in the past. Patients with this cardiac anomaly usually are asymptomatic until the second or third decade of life, when the aneurysms can reach remarkable sizes and are often complicated with atrial tachyarrhythmia or thromboembolic events. Early surgical intervention is advised even in asymptomatic patients to prevent the occurrence of myocardial dysfunction, atrial fibrillation, and systemic embolism.
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Peptic ulcer bleeding is thought to be a major cause of bleeding in patients with end-stage renal disease and is more complicated in uremic patients. We described a 41-year-old man with end-stage renal disease who underwent hemodialysis with refractory ulcer bleeding, failure to all traditional peptic ulcer treatments, and correction of uremic component, who has been successfully treated by using recombinant factor VIIa. There have been few case reports in dealing refractory upper gastrointestinal bleeding in uremic patients in the literature; and in this case report, we demonstrates that recombinant factor VIIa could be used as a rescue therapy in these high–surgical risk patients when medical therapy fails.