Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Review Meta Analysis
Comparison of the Loop Technique with Incision and Drainage for Skin and Soft Tissue Abscesses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Cutaneous abscesses are common presentations to the emergency department. While the primary treatment for most abscesses is conventional incision and drainage (CID), this is painful and can lead to multiple return visits. The loop drainage technique (LDT) has been proposed as an alternate, less-invasive approach to abscess management. The primary outcome of this study was to compare LDT with CID for skin and soft tissue abscesses. ⋯ The LDT was associated with reduced treatment failures when compared with CID. Future studies should further assess the impact on pain, cosmetic outcomes, and health care costs.
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Review Meta Analysis
Comparison of the Loop Technique with Incision and Drainage for Skin and Soft Tissue Abscesses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Cutaneous abscesses are common presentations to the emergency department. While the primary treatment for most abscesses is conventional incision and drainage (CID), this is painful and can lead to multiple return visits. The loop drainage technique (LDT) has been proposed as an alternate, less-invasive approach to abscess management. The primary outcome of this study was to compare LDT with CID for skin and soft tissue abscesses. ⋯ The LDT was associated with reduced treatment failures when compared with CID. Future studies should further assess the impact on pain, cosmetic outcomes, and health care costs.
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Meta Analysis
Machine Learning versus Usual Care for Diagnostic and Prognostic Prediction in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review.
Having shown promise in other medical fields, we sought to determine whether machine learning (ML) models perform better than usual care in diagnostic and prognostic prediction for emergency department (ED) patients. ⋯ Our review suggests that ML may have better prediction performance than usual care for ED patients with a variety of clinical presentations and outcomes. However, prediction model reporting guidelines should be followed to provide clinically applicable data. Interventional trials are needed to assess the impact of ML models on patient-centered outcomes.
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Clinical guidelines have supported outpatient treatment of low-risk pulmonary embolism (PE) since 2014, but adoption of this practice has been slow. Direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) therapy for venous thromboembolism (VTE) is now as common as vitamin K antagonist treatment, but data are sparse regarding outcomes for patients with low-risk PE treated with DOACs as outpatients. We conducted a systematic review of literature on outcomes of outpatient management for PE, including comparisons to inpatient treatment and differences by anticoagulant class. ⋯ Among patients with low-risk PE treated as outpatients, few patients experienced major adverse outcomes such as mortality, recurrent VTE, or major bleeding within 90 days.