European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Intracranial stab wounds are relatively uncommon, as the adult skull usually provides an effective barrier to penetration. We present an interesting case of a penetrating intracranial stab wound with several important teaching points. ⋯ Several leaning points exist in this case. Firstly, as stab wounds to the brain frequently present as apparently innocuous facial or scalp lacerations, a high index of suspicion is needed to prevent these injuries presenting with serious late infective complications. Secondly, reports of similar cases in the literature suggest that stab wounds to the temporal region are associated with a high morbidity and mortality. This case demonstrates that a patient with an injury such as this can occasionally make a good functional recovery. Finally, this case highlights the advantage of magnetic resonance imaging over computerized tomography in patients with these injuries once it has been established that there is no residual intracranial metal fragment prior to magnetic resonance imaging. In this case, the entire wound tract was only evident on magnetic resonance imaging and not on the initial computerized tomography scans.
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Identification of pneumothoraces is essential during the initial assessment of major injury. Prompt intervention is crucial for effective resuscitation and for subsequent safe management. Historically, emergency departments have relied on chest X-ray for detection of pneumothoraces. More recently, the increasing availability of computed tomography (CT) has provided a more sensitive means of detection. Occult pneumothoraces are those that are missed on clinical examination and chest X-ray, but are detected on subsequent CT. ⋯ A sufficiently high proportion of pneumothoraces is missed on chest X-ray to advocate a low threshold for use of CT in the early assessment of blunt trauma patients, especially if mechanical ventilation is required for ongoing management.
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The most common presenting symptom of aortic dissection is chest pain - headache as the initial manifestation is rare. We report a patient with a history of hypertension who presented with severe bifrontal headache, and was found to have an acute aortic dissection in the absence of carotid artery dissection. A discussion of the atypical presentation and possible pathophysiology follows.
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Letter Case Reports
Anaphylactoid reaction to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.
Anaphylactoid reaction to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for the thrombolytic treatment of acute ischemic stroke is an uncommon complication. An increased risk of anaphylaxis may be found in patients concomitantly being treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, as illustrated by this case report describing a patient who experienced an urticaric rash, hypotension, tachycardia, orolingual angioedema, and airway obstruction following intravenous administration of alteplase. Possible pharmacologic interactions resulting in excessive serum bradykinin and subsequent systemic hypersensitivity responses are discussed.
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The aim of this study was to identify the outcomes of survivors of blunt major trauma (without head injury) 2 years or more following injury. The study uses a case-control design, is set in the West of Scotland and includes trauma patients treated in Greater Glasgow NHS Board hospitals. Participants consisted of patients who had sustained major trauma (injury severity score >15) with little or no head injury at least 2 years before assessment, identified from the Scottish Trauma Audit Group database, and age and sex-matched controls nominated by the index case's general practitioner. ⋯ Non-head-injured survivors of major trauma in the West of Scotland have poorer health status (SF36), physically and mentally, than the UK population. They have greater impairment, but have an employment status comparable to that of the controls. The lack of differences in FIM and CIQ scores between survivors and controls may be due to small sample sizes.