The American journal of emergency medicine
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Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) followed by operating room sternotomy, rather than resuscitative thoracotomy, might be life-saving for patients with blunt cardiac rupture and cardiac arrest who do not have multiple severe traumatic injuries. A 49-year-old man was injured in a vehicle crash and transferred to the emergency department. On admission, he was hemodynamically stable, but a plain chest radiograph revealed a widened mediastinum, and echocardiography revealed hemopericardium. ⋯ In this patient, ECPR rapidly restored brain perfusion and provided enough time to perform operating room sternotomy, allowing for good surgical exposure of the heart. Moreover, open cardiac massage was unnecessary. ECPR with sternotomy and cardiac repair is advisable for patients with blunt cardiac rupture and cardiac arrest who do not have severe multiple traumatic injuries.
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To evaluate occurrence of cerebellar stroke in Emergency Department (ED) presentations of isolated dizziness (dizziness with a normal exam and negative neurological review of systems). ⋯ Though there was preselection bias for stroke risk factors, our study suggests an important proportion of cerebellar stroke among ED patients with isolated dizziness, considering how common this complaint is.