The American journal of emergency medicine
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Many advances have been made recently in the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF). We hypothesize that this should have resulted in fewer CHF patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) and fewer being intubated. ⋯ The rates of annual ED visits for CHF and intubation rates declined from 1996 to 2008. These decreases are most likely due to better CHF treatments.
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Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning frequently affects repolarization, resulting in abnormal electrocardiography findings. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of CO poisoning on the novel transmyocardial repolarization parameters T peak-T end (Tp-e), Tp-e dispersion, and Tp-e/QT and the relationship of these parameters to myocardial injury (MI). ⋯ Transmyocardial repolarization parameters indicative of arrhythmia were prolonged in patients with CO poisoning. T peak-T end was associated with MI.
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A 53-year-old woman was hospitalized after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. Initial electrocardioagram showed sinus rhythm of 117 beats per minute, 452 ms QTc interval, ST-segment depression up to 1 mm in V(2)-V(6), and ST-elevation in lead aVR. ⋯ Laboratory test results showed hypocalcaemia. After rewarming and ion correction QT abnormalities resolved.
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Case Reports
Good neurologic recovery after cardiac arrest using hypothermia through continuous renal replacement therapy.
Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is becoming a standard of care to mitigate neurologic injury in cardiac arrest survivors. Several cooling methods are available for use in TH. For maintaining a target temperature, intravascular cooling is superior to, more efficacious than, and safer than surface cooling methods. ⋯ Continuous renal replacement therapy has been widely used in the intensive care unit to improve clinical parameters and survival in patients with multiple-organ dysfunction of septic origin. Continuous renal replacement therapy can also be used as another type of core cooling method. We used continuous renal replacement therapy as a cooling method to induce TH in a patient who had a cardiac arrest, and the patient regained consciousness 52 hours later.
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Cardiac syncope can be classified as being either structural or dysrhythmogenic in origin, and it may be the only warning symptom of sudden cardiac death. One of the causes of dysrhythmic sudden cardiac death in young adults with structurally normal hearts is Brugada syndrome. Electrocardiogram (ECG) of Brugada syndrome is characterized by an ST-segment elevation in the right precordial leads. ⋯ This pattern was reverted back to normal 5 minutes later and never showed up again on his future ECGs. In our case, it was only the earliest ECG that made the diagnosis possible since all future ECGs showed a perfectly normal pattern throughout the follow-up period. In all syncope patients, initial ECGs should be kept and filed to be reviewed again in case the primary physician is not competent enough for the evaluation of ECG.