J Emerg Med
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The differential diagnosis for pediatric neck pain is broad and includes benign and life-threatening entities. The neck is a complex structure with many compartments. Rare disease processes exist that can mimic more serious conditions, such as meningitis. ⋯ We present a case of a teenager with several days of severe pain underneath her left jaw, limiting the motion of her neck. After laboratory and imaging evaluation, the patient was found to have an infected Thornwaldt cyst and was subsequently admitted for IV antibiotic treatment. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Including infected congenital cysts on the differential for pediatric neck pain can help ensure appropriate use of invasive procedures, such as lumbar puncture. Missed cases of infected congenital cysts could lead to patients returning to the emergency department with persistent or worsened symptoms.
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Reducing the time between onset of cerebral infarction and treatment with tissue plasminogen activator improves the prognosis of patients with cerebral infarction. Diverse dosing protocols have been developed with the aim of reducing the time to bolus injection; however, only a few studies have investigated the methods and effects of the interrupted time between bolus and post-bolus infusion. ⋯ Because of the short half-life of alteplase, even a short delay in initiating post-bolus infusion can cause a significant reduction in serum alteplase concentration.
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Case Reports
An Underrecognized Cause of Recurrent Nocturnal Syncope with a Pacemaker: Sleep Rate Mode.
Nocturnal syncope is a common presentation in the emergency department, often related to orthostatic hypotension and subsequent loss of cerebral perfusion when patients get up from sleep to use the restroom faster than their cardiac output and vascular tone can accommodate. Poor hydration status and antihypertensive medications can increase this risk. Patients with syncope who present to the emergency department with a pacemaker are usually evaluated with a pacemaker interrogation to evaluate for runs of nonperfusing rhythms (e.g., ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation). Sleep rate mode (SRM) is a relatively new feature of modern pacemakers and is not currently recognized by emergency physicians. It was implemented to accommodate more physiologic fluctuations in heart rate during rapid eye movement sleep. There is a paucity of evidence supporting the clinical benefit of SRM and similarly no documentation of prior complications of SRM in the current literature. ⋯ We report the case of a 92-year-old woman with a Medtronic Avisa pacemaker presenting with recurrent nocturnal syncope and bradycardia resulting in multiple emergency department visits. These episodes ultimately resolved by turning off SRM on her pacemaker. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: SRM is not currently flagged on interrogation report summaries provided to emergency physicians. This report highlights the importance of recognizing this mode as a potential etiology of nocturnal syncope related to chronotropic incompetence in patients with pacemakers.