Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Feb 1997
Comparative StudyEpidemiology of dental trauma treated in an urban pediatric emergency department.
To describe the epidemiology of traumatic dental injuries to children treated in an urban pediatric emergency department (ED). ⋯ Findings of this large consecutive series provide a useful description of the epidemiology of this common type of pediatric trauma for pediatric emergency care providers.
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Pediatric emergency care · Feb 1997
Review Case ReportsSpontaneous pneumothoraces, pneumomediastinum, and pneumoperitoneum: consequences of smoking crack cocaine.
The combination of pneumothoraces, pneumomediastinum, and pneumoperitoneum is a rare consequence of smoking crack cocaine. This is a report of this trilogy of findings in a 17-year-old girl who attempted suicide by smoking crack cocaine. This case is important to the emergency physician because the increase in crack cocaine use among the adolescent population.
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Pediatric emergency care · Feb 1997
Review Case ReportsSurvival following traumatic rupture of the heart in a child.
Blunt force trauma to the chest can result in rupture of the heart. We report the youngest survivor of this injury, followed by a literature review, description of the epidemiology, and mechanism and guidelines for diagnosis and aggressive management.
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Pediatric emergency care · Feb 1997
Comparative StudyAngulation of the pediatric cervical spine with and without cervical collar.
To determine whether semirigid cervical collars eliminate cervical spine (CS) flexion in children on back boards. ⋯ Most children < 8 years, when immobilized on back boards have flexed CSs. Semirigid cervical collars do not eliminate flexion. Further study is needed to develop and test different methods of CS immobilization as present equipment is unable to position the CS optimally.
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Headache may be the presenting complaint of serious diagnoses such as meningitis, brain tumor, or shunt malfunction, yet no previous studies have examined the spectrum of diagnoses for the pediatric emergency department (ED) population with a chief complaint of headache. ⋯ Serious conditions presenting with the chief complaint of headache in the pediatric ED were not common in our population. The most frequent diagnoses in our review were viral illness, sinusitis, and migraine, in contrast to adult studies in which tension headache and migraine were most common. Only 6.6% of patients had serious neurologic diagnoses, which is in the range reported for general EDs. Of the serious conditions in our study, 80% were viral meningitis.