Emergency radiology
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Emergency radiology · Aug 2016
Efficiency and safety of coronary CT angiography compared to standard care in the evaluation of patients with acute chest pain: a Canadian study.
The optimal assessment of patients with chest pain and possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains a diagnostic dilemma for emergency physicians. Cardiac computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) may identify patients who can be safely discharged home from the emergency department (ED). The objective of the study was to compare the efficiency and safety of CCTA to standard care in patients presenting to the ED with low- to intermediate-risk chest pain. ⋯ The cardiac CT group had a shorter time to diagnosis of 7.1 h (IQR 5.8-14.0) compared to 532.9 h (IQR 312.8-960.5) for the standard care group (p < 0.0001) but had a longer length of stay in the ED of 7.9 h (IQR 6.5-10.8) versus 5.5 h (IQR 3.9-7.7) (p < 0.0001). The MACE rate was 1.6 % in the standard care group and 0 % in the cardiac CT group. In conclusion, a cardiac CT-based management strategy to rule out ACS in ED patients with low- to intermediate-risk chest pain was safe and led to a shorter time to diagnosis but increased length of stay in the ED.
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Emergency radiology · Jun 2016
Radiologist, obstetric patient, and emergency department provider survey: radiologist-patient interaction in the emergency department setting.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptance of a model of direct interaction between radiologist and patients in the emergency department (ED) setting. The study population was comprised of pregnant patients accrued in a non-consecutive prospective manner from June 2014 to September 2015, who had an obstetrical ultrasound performed in the radiology department of an inner-city tertiary care hospital at the request of the ED. The feasibility and approval of direct communication between radiologist and patient were evaluated by means of a questionnaire presented by an independent observer to the ED provider, patient, and radiologist. ⋯ The radiologists found the interaction with patients to be positive in 52 (96 %) cases. Direct communication between radiologist and patient yielded a good acceptance by the radiologist, ED provider, and patient. More importantly, after the encounter, the vast majority of patients reported a better understanding of the radiologist's role in their care.
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The objective of this study was to determine the incidence and interobserver agreement of individual CT findings as well as the bowel injury prediction score (BIPS) in surgically proven bowel injury after blunt abdominal trauma. This HIPAA-compliant retrospective study was IRB approved and consent was waived. All patients 14 years or older who sustained surgically proven bowel injury after blunt abdominal trauma between 1/1/2004 and 6/30/2015 were included. ⋯ The presence of intraperitoneal fluid and mesenteric hematoma/fat stranding are the most common CT findings in bowel injuries proven at laparotomy. A small percentage of patients have no abnormal CT findings. This grading system did not prove to be useful in our study likely due to our inherently small patient population; however, the use of BIPS deserves further investigation as it may help in identifying blunt bowel and mesenteric injury patients with often subtle or nonspecific CT findings.
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With advancing technology, the sensitivity of computed tomography (CT) for the detection of traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (tSAH) continues to improve. Increased resolution has allowed for the detection of hemorrhage that is limited to one or two images of the CT exam. At our institution, all patients with a SAH require intensive care unit (ICU) admission, regardless of size. ⋯ None of the patients with low-grade SAH experienced seizure during their admission. In our study, patients with low-grade tSAH demonstrated favorable clinical outcomes. This suggests that patients may not require as aggressive monitoring as is currently provided for those with tSAH.
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Emergency radiology · Jun 2016
Effect of spineboard and headblocks on the image quality of head CT scans.
Trauma patients at risk for, or suspected of, spinal injury are frequently transported to hospital using full spinal immobilisation. At the emergency department, immobilisation is often maintained until radiological work-up is completed. In this study, we examined how these devices for spinal stabilization influence visual image quality. ⋯ In the phantom CT scans, artifacts were present in all set-ups with one or more devices present and were seen in 20 % of all scan slices. The presence of headblocks resulted in more artifacts in both the patient CT scans and the phantom CT scans. Considerable effort should therefore be made to adjust the design of the immobilization devices and to remove the headblocks before CT scans are made.