The American journal of emergency medicine
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Case Reports
Poisoning by abnormally high blood phenobarbital concentration treated with extracorporeal therapy.
Phenobarbital poisoning, which may cause circulatory collapse as well as respiratory arrest in severe cases, has one of the highest mortality rates among acute drug poisonings. A 58-year-old man arrived at the emergency room in a deep coma (Glasgow Coma Scale E1V1M1) after taking an unknown dose of phenobarbital which had been prescribed for his cat's seizures. Venous blood gas analysis revealed hypercapnia (PvCO2: 113.0 mmHg) and a blood phenobarbital concentration of 197.3 μg/mL. ⋯ A search of the literature revealed that the peak phenobarbital concentration in the present case exceeded those of fatal cases, as well as those of survivors of acute phenobarbital poisoning. However, the patient was successfully treated with continuous renal replacement therapy. Among modalities of extracorporeal treatment, continuous renal replacement therapy could be considered if a patient's circulation is unstable.
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The Lazarus phenomenon or autoresuscitation (autoROSC) is the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after the termination of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) efforts. ⋯ AutoROSC is probably an under-reported event in the medical community. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the phenomenon and actively monitor for it, when appropriate.
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Pulmonary embolism (PE) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) are potentially fatal disease states. Early diagnosis and goal-directed management improve outcomes and survival. Both conditions share several echocardiographic findings of right ventricular dysfunction. This can inadvertently lead to incorrect diagnosis, inappropriate and potentially harmful management, and delay in time-sensitive therapies. Fortunately, bedside echocardiography imparts a few critical distinctions. ⋯ Emergency physicians must appreciate the echocardiographic findings and associated pathophysiology that help distinguish acute and chronic right ventricular dysfunction. In the proper clinical context, these findings can point towards PE or PH, thereby leading to earlier goal-directed management.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Surgical mask-to-mouth ventilation as an alternative ventilation technique during CPR: A crossover randomized controlled trial.
Chest compression with rescue breathing improves outcomes in cardiac arrest. However, the efficacy of rescue breathing through surgical masks has not been investigated. ⋯ MMV resulted in a superior average tidal volume when compared to both MSV and SSV. However, SMV achieved a comparable average tidal volume to MMV.
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Multicenter Study
A simple scoring rule to predict survival to discharge after out of hospital cardiac arrest at the time of ED arrival.
It is important to be able to predict the chance of survival to hospital discharge upon ED arrival in order to determine whether to continue or terminate resuscitation efforts after out of hospital cardiac arrest. This study was conducted to develop and validate a simple scoring rule that could predict survival to hospital discharge at the time of ED arrival. ⋯ A simple scoring rule consisting of five, binary variables could aid in the prediction of the survival to hospital discharge at the time of ED arrival, showing comparable results to conventional machine learning classifiers.