The Netherlands journal of medicine
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Frailty screening in the emergency department may identify frail patients at risk for adverse outcomes. This study investigated if the Dutch Safety Management Program (VMS) screener predicts outcomes in older patients in the emergency department. ⋯ In this selected group of patients, higher VMS score was associated with 90-day mortality and falls. The low positive predictive value shows that the VMS screener is unsuitable for identifying high-risk patients in the ED. The high negative predictive value indicates that the screener can identify patients not at risk for adverse medical outcomes. This could be useful to determine which patients should undergo additional screening.
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Case Reports
Two cases of a prolonged excited delirium syndrome after chloromethcathinone ingestion.
Synthetic cathinones have become popular drugs of abuse. We describe our recent experience with two highly agitated patients following ingestion of the cathinone derivative chloromethcathinone, and cannabis. Both patients suffered from excited delirium syndromes that lasted for over 24 hours. Clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon, especially since routine toxicology screenings do not detect the presence of these agents.
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A 28-year-old female patient was admitted to our hospital with severe dyspnoea and hypoxemia due to methaemoglobinaemia caused by dapsone. The patient recovered completely after repeated infusions of methylene blue and cessation of dapsone. However, 12 days after cessation of dapsone, the patient was readmitted due to recurrence of symptoms based on a relapse of methaemoglobinaemia. ⋯ In addition to supportive care, treatment consisted of methylene blue; furthermore, cimetidine and ascorbic acid were added. An overview of the pathophysiology, diagnostics, treatment, and possible explanations for this relapse of methaemoglobinaemia caused by dapsone are given. This case shows the importance of considering the possibility of a late rebound methaemoglobinaemia after discontinuation of dapsone.
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Case Reports
Spontaneous remission of unidentified Cushing's disease revealed by hair cortisol analysis.
Pituitary apoplexy is an infrequent but life-threatening complication of pituitary adenomas. When apoplexy occurs in a hormonally active adenoma, this may induce spontaneous remission of the clinical syndrome. ⋯ However, we describe a patient with Cushing's disease presenting with pituitary apoplexy, who was biochemically in remission at presentation. The diagnosis could be confirmed in retrospect using hair cortisol analysis, thereby enabling clinicians to adequately anticipate remission of Cushing's disease.