Acta Clin Belg
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Although emergency department (ED) return visits are a significant problem universally, it has not been previously studied in our ED. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of the problem in our ED, to identify the relevant clinical predictor variables and to detect diagnostic errors. ⋯ The percentage ED return visits by patients discharged from the ED by the GIM service is 1,48%. Patients presenting with diarrhoea as the initial presenting symptom have the highest relative risk of an early ED return visit. Our main practical conclusion is that patients with abdominal pain need to be re-examined carefully and instructed about potential evolution before discharge.
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The association of erythrocytosis and multiple myeloma is rare. We encountered a 76-year-old male patient with erythrocytosis followed by the diagnosis of multiple myeloma 8 months later. Related laboratory examinations revealed absolute erythrocytosis, normal oxygen saturation and erythropoietin (EPO) levels, the absence of endogenous erythroid colony (EEC) and JAK2-V617F mutations. ⋯ None of them is considered to be have idiopathic erythrocytosis. Our present case is the first one with multiple myeloma developing in a patient with the diagnosis well established by extensive laboratory workup. The pathogenic role of these two entities remains to be established.