Der Anaesthesist
-
A case report of severe rhabdomyolysis in a 33-year-old motorcyclist after multiple trauma is described. The injuries included severe thoracic and abdominal trauma as well as injuries to the extremities and spinal column. During the first 3 days of treatment a forced volume therapy was performed because of increased levels of creatine kinase during which the patients condition stabilized both hemodynamically and respiratorily. ⋯ The creatine kinase levels declined significantly and renal function also returned to normal with adequate diuresis up to day 20. After intensive questioning of the relatives a history of long-term use of anabolic steroids, clenbuterol as well as the intake of testosterone enanthate was conceded. Cocaine and amphetamines were also taken regularly by the patient.
-
This example of a fatal diving accident shows how challenging such cases can be in pre-hospital and clinical care. There is no common mechanism in diving fatalities and more than one group of disorders coming along with decompression sickness. Diving medicine is not an element of medical education, which results in insecurity and hampers adequate therapy of diving incidents. This is aggravated by an insufficient availability of hyperbaric chambers in Germany.
-
Psychiatric emergency situations (PES) are common in the physician-based emergency medical system (EMS) in Germany. However, many emergency physicians (EP) feel insecure in assessing the necessity for treatment of these patients. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate whether a short, newly developed questionnaire (Indicator for Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy, IPP) is able to help EPs in deciding for or against pharmacological treatment. ⋯ The IPP can be a valuable tool to assess the necessity of pharmacological treatment for patients in PESs. The assessment of the symptom categories "anxiety", "agitation/aggression", "mood" and "physical symptoms/disorders" seems to be sufficient to estimate a need for treatment.