J Emerg Med
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Prehospital ultrasound has been shown to aid in the diagnosis of multiple conditions that do not generally change prehospital management. On the other hand, the diagnoses of cardiac tamponade, tension pneumothorax, or cardiac standstill may directly impact patient resuscitation in the field. ⋯ Paramedics were able to perform the PAUSE protocol and recognize the presence of pneumothorax, pericardial effusion, and cardiac standstill. The PAUSE protocol may potentially be useful in rapidly detecting specific life-threatening pathology in the prehospital environment, and warrants further study in existing EMS systems.
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Case Reports
Acute aortic regurgitation with myocardial infarction: an important clue for aortic dissection.
Aortic dissection is an important cause of acute chest pain that should be rapidly diagnosed, as mortality increases with each hour this condition is left untreated. The diagnosis can be challenging, especially if concomitant myocardial infarction is present. Echocardiography is an important tool for the differential diagnosis. ⋯ Detection of aortic regurgitation in a patient with myocardial infarction and normal valves should prompt the search for a possible aortic dissection, whether or not the dissection flap can be visualized.
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Failure to detect pregnancy in the emergency department (ED) can have important consequences. Urine human chorionic gonadotropin (uhCG) point-of-care (POC) assays are valued for rapidly detecting early pregnancy with high sensitivity. However, under certain conditions, POC uhCG tests can fail to detect pregnancy. ⋯ Manufacturers should consider that uhCG tests are routinely used at many stages of pregnancy. Characterizing uhCG variants recognized by their tests and eliminating lot-to-lot variability may help improve uhCG test performance. Clinicians need to be aware of and familiarize themselves with the limitations of the specific type of uhCG POC tests used in their practice, recognizing that under certain circumstances, false-negative tests can occur.
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Acute upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleed is a well-known presentation to the emergency department (ED) frequently accompanied by hematemesis. We describe the case of a patient with abdominal content herniation into the chest wall with a recent history of coronary artery bypass graft presenting with acute onset of hematemesis. ⋯ The emergency physician must be able to assess hemodynamic stability of an upper GI bleed and resuscitate the unstable patient if warranted. Diagnosis is to be subsequently determined after stabilization.
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Children presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) with fever often describe symptoms such as lightheadedness, dizziness, fatigue, and weakness, and may appear pale. They may also present with a chief complaint of syncope. Such symptoms may result from orthostatic hypotension. ⋯ The incidence of orthostatic hypotension among febrile children in the PED is high, and may explain common symptoms such as dizziness or syncope. Such patients should be instructed to drink properly and to avoid rapid changes in body posture.