The American journal of emergency medicine
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Review Case Reports
Short series of upper limb acute arterial occlusions in 4 different etiologies and review of literature.
Upper limb acute arterial occlusions are uncommon, and when compared with lower limb occlusions, only a few cases have been reported. Although atrial fibrillation is the most common cause, many conditions may lead to ischemia. In this article, 8 cases of upper limb arterial ischemia due to 4 different etiologies were reported (7 brachial, 1 axillary), and the literature was reviewed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Assisted head extension minimizes the frequency of dental contact with laryngoscopic blade during tracheal intubation.
We hypothesized that the assisted maintenance of head extension would reduce the frequency of direct contact between the laryngoscope blade and the maxillary incisors during tracheal intubation. ⋯ The assisted maintenance of head extension during the simulation of tracheal intubation reduced the frequency of dental contact with the laryngoscopic blade without compromising the laryngoscopic views. The results of this study suggest that assisted head extension during tracheal intubation may reduce the possibility of unexpected dental injury.
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Observational Study
A simplified ultrasound-based edema score to assess lung injury and clinical severity in septic patients.
Lung ultrasound (US) is an excellent tool to assess lung edema in a myriad of different clinical situations. We hypothesized that lung US might also be a good prognostic and management instrument in septic patients, regardless of disease severity. ⋯ The SLESS is an easy and practical scoring system. It might be a useful tool to predict severity of disease in sepsis patients. The SLESS might also be able to be correlated with the oxygen exchange.
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Despite the usefulness of the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) for rapid recognition of acute stroke, its ability to assess stroke severity is unclear. We investigated the usefulness of CPSS for assessment of stroke severity by comparing CPSS and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores in patients who were candidates for thrombolytic therapy at hospital admission within 6 hours of symptom onset. ⋯ The CPSS is an effective prehospital stroke scale for the determination of stroke severity and identification of candidates for thrombolytic therapy.
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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.