The American journal of emergency medicine
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Case Reports
The misleading electrocardiogram - Midventricular Takotsubo masquerading as anterior wall STEMI.
Midventricular Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is a relatively rare variant of stress induced cardiomyopathy, wherein there is akinesis of only the mid-ventricular segment with or without hyperkinesis of apical and basal ventricular segments. The ECG findings of TC typically do not include ST segment elevation in V1-V2 and are unlikely to be associated with reciprocal changes in inferior leads. ⋯ In our patient, the ECG had changes strongly suggestive of STEMI, however had normal coronaries on cardiac catheterization. This case highlights the importance of carefully analyzing the ECG in emergency situations for differences between TC and STEMI and when in doubt, cardiac catheterization should be pursued.
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Horton's disease is a systemic inflammatory vasculitis, usually found in persons over 50years old. It affects medium and large-sized arteries stemming from the external carotid, especially the superficial temporal arteries. It can affect extracranial large vessels but only rarely the aorta. Diagnosis of aortitis is difficult and its incidence is probably underestimated. ⋯ In the present case, this patient had Horton's disease, based on 3 criteria of The American College of Rheumatology (age, temporal artery abnormalities and inflammatory syndrome) associated with aortitis. However, aortitis is a rare complication of Horton disease and is a major cause of mortality inasmuch as it can be complicated by aneurysm and dissection. It is unusual to diagnose Horton's disease from aortitis symptoms without complications. The aorta represents the most severe localization of Horton's disease. It should not be ignored in etiological hypotheses regarding febrile abdominal pain in the elderly. Corticosteroids should be started rapidly at high doses and temporal artery biopsy should be planned.
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Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) is a syndrome seen predominantly in obese women of reproductive age group, characterized by signs and symptoms of increased intracranial pressure due to an unknown cause. Some individuals have a more malignant form of disease called fulminant idiopathic intracranial hypertension with rapid worsening of symptoms over days. ⋯ She was managed with prompt surgical intervention. In patients with fulminant idiopathic intracranial hypertension, surgery such as cerebrospinal fluid shunting or optic nerve sheath fenestration should not be delayed to prevent vision loss.
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Observational Study
Long-term survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients with malignancy.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether the 1-year survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients with malignancy was different from that of those without malignancy. ⋯ Although survival to admission, survival to discharge and discharge with a good CPC rate were not different, the 1-year survival rate was significantly lower in OHCA patients with malignancy than in those without malignancy.
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Size 9 and 8 airways for men and women, respectively, have been proposed as most appropriate based on endoscopy. However, a limitation of this guideline is that ventilation was not assessed. ⋯ With respect to adequate ventilation in conjunction with an acceptable endoscopic view, size 9 and size 8 oropharyngeal airways appear to be the most appropriate sizes for clinical use in men and women, respectively.