The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparative analysis of airway scope and Macintosh laryngoscope for intubation primarily for cardiac arrest in prehospital setting.
This study sought to determine and compare the utility of the Airway scope (AWS; Pentax Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and the conventional Macintosh laryngoscope (MLS) for intubation in the prehospital setting. ⋯ Despite its many advantages seen in other settings, the AWS did not show superior efficacy to the MLS in relation to time required for intubation, ultimate or first attempt success rate, or difficulty level of intubation in the prehospital setting.
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Emergency departments (EDs) are important to detect child physical abuse. A structured approach will contribute to an adequate detection of abused children at the ED. ⋯ In the Netherlands, these American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines have been adopted for the clinical process of child abuse detection. Here, we describe the outcome of the clinical process in the year 2010 with 65 cases of suspected child abuse out of 3660 children presenting at an ED, and we discuss the strengths and pitfalls of this current clinical approach.
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Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is well established in detecting acute decompensation of heart failure (ADHF). The role of BNP at discharge in predicting mortality is less established. Accumulating evidence suggests that inflammatory cytokines play an important role in the development of heart failure. We aimed to examine the contribution of BNP, interleukin 6, and procalcitonin to mortality in ADHF. ⋯ BNP at discharge is an independent predictor for all-cause mortality in patients with ADHF. Compared with BNP at admission, BNP at discharge has slightly higher predictive accuracy with regard to 6-month all-cause mortality.
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This study investigated the diagnostic yield of invasive coronary angiography (CAG) and the impact of noninvasive test (NIV) in patients presented to emergency department (ED) with acute chest pain. ⋯ The diagnostic yield of CAG was only 65% in low- to intermediate-risk ED patients with acute chest pain. Performing of NIV provided only modest improvement in diagnostic yield of CAG. The unexpectedly low diagnostic yield might be attributable to the underuse of NIV and misinterpretation of physicians. We suggest the use of NIV as a gatekeeper to discriminate patients who require CAG and/or revascularization, and for this, better risk stratification and appropriate application of NIV are required.
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Case Reports
Unilateral neck pain: a case of Eagle syndrome with associated nontraumatic styloid fracture.
We present a case of Eagle syndrome in a 77-year-old woman with associated aneurysm and nontraumatic styloid process fracture, without history of tonsillectomy, who presented to the emergency department. The first set of symptoms associated with the elongation of the temporal styloid process and/or the calcification of the stylomandibular or stylohyoid ligaments was described by Eagle in 1937. Classically, unilateral pain in the oropharynx radiating to the neck and face that is exacerbated by head turning and neck rotation is characteristic of Eagle syndrome. ⋯ Eagle syndrome is a rare but important differential that the emergency physician must consider in a patient with unilateral neck pain and positional neurological symptoms with head turning and in posttonsillectomy patients. Patients with medical history of Eagle syndrome presenting with neck pain and especially neurological symptomsmust be thoroughly evaluated for carotid and jugular venous injury. Specifically, the decision to obtain computed tomography and computed tomographic angiography to evaluate for carotid artery injury is important for patient management and disposition.