Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The field of international emergency medicine has grown rapidly over the past several decades, with an increase in the number of interested individuals and in the range of topics included under its rubric. One of the greatest obstacles, however, faced by international emergency medicine researchers and practitioners alike remains the lack of a high-quality, consolidated, and easily accessible evidence base of literature. ⋯ Articles for this first annual review, covering research published in 2005, were selected according to explicit, predetermined criteria that included both methodological quality and perceived impact of the research. It is our hope that this annual review will act as a forum for disseminating best practices, while also stimulating further research in the field of international emergency medicine.
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Intravenous fat emulsion (IFE) decreases cardiotoxicity from several lipid-soluble drugs, including verapamil. ⋯ Standard resuscitation and IFE increase MAP and survival in an animal model of severe verapamil toxicity compared with standard resuscitation alone.
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Patients with recent normal cardiac catheterization are at low risk for complications of ischemic chest pain. Computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography has high correlation with cardiac catheterization for detection of coronary stenosis. Therefore, the investigators' emergency department (ED) incorporated CT coronary angiography into the evaluation of low-risk patients with chest pain. ⋯ When used in the clinical setting for the evaluation of ED patients with low-risk chest pain, CT coronary angiography may safely allow rapid discharge of patients with negative studies. Further study to conclusively determine the safety and cost effectiveness of this approach is warranted.