Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is the reference rewarming technique of accidental deep hypothermic cardiac arrest (DHCA). This study was designed to examine the impact of different rewarming blood flow rates and temperature setting of ECLS on cardiopulmonary lesions after DHCA in a porcine model of accidental hypothermia. ⋯ We developed a porcine model of DHCA treated by ECLS. Our data suggest that cardiac output tended to improve with a high-flow-rate rewarming strategy while a high-temperature delta between core temperature and ECLS increased the RAGE markers of lung injury.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of Intravenous Morphine vs Paracetamol in Sciatica: A Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial.
The objective was to compare intravenous morphine and intravenous acetaminophen (paracetamol) for pain treatment in patients presenting to the emergency department with sciatica. ⋯ Morphine and acetaminophen are both effective for treating sciatica at 30 minutes. However, morphine is superior to acetaminophen.
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Observational Study
Lactate clearance in septic shock is not a surrogate for improved microcirculatory flow.
Failure to normalize lactate is associated with poor outcomes in septic shock. It has been suggested that persistently elevated lactate may result from regional ischemia due to disturbed and/or heterogenous microcirculatory blood flow. ⋯ We observed no association between degree of LC and change in microcirculatory blood flow in patients with septic shock. These data suggest against the hypothesis that LC may be used as a surrogate marker of microcirculatory blood flow.
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The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDH) is an essential enzyme in aerobic metabolism. Ketones are known to inhibit PDH activity, but the extent of this inhibition is unknown in patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). ⋯ DKA is associated with greater suppression of PDH activity than hyperglycemia without ketoacidosis, and this is correlated with measures of acid-base status. Future studies may determine whether PDH depression plays a role in the pathophysiology of DKA and whether modification of PDH could decrease time to DKA resolution.
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Observational Study
Variations in resource intensity and cost among high users of the emergency department.
High users of emergency department (ED) services are often identified by number of visits per year, with little exploration of the distribution/pattern of visits over time. The purpose of this study was to examine patient- and encounter-level factors and costs related to periods of short-term resource intensity among high users of the ED within a tertiary care teaching facility. ⋯ Using a novel methodology that accounts for both number and intensity of ED encounters over time, we were able to identify specific subpopulations of high ED users. Further work is required to determine if this methodology has utility for targeting care pathways within this heterogeneous and high-risk patient group.