Annals of emergency medicine
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Compression ultrasonography of the lower extremity is an established method of detecting proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis when performed by a certified operator in a vascular laboratory. Our objective is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of bedside 2-point compression ultrasonography performed in the emergency department (ED) with portable vascular ultrasonography for the detection of proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis. We did this by directly comparing emergency physician-performed ultrasonography to lower extremity duplex ultrasonography performed by the Department of Radiology. ⋯ Emergency physician-performed 2-point compression ultrasonography of the lower extremity with a portable vascular ultrasonographic machine, conducted in the ED by this physician group and in this patient sample, accurately identified the presence and absence of proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis.
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There is both increasing recognition and growing scrutiny of the increased utilization of computed tomography (CT) in medicine. For our primary objective, we determine and quantify the CT utilization rate in our emergency department (ED) during the last 7 years. As a secondary objective, we compare trends in utilization for various types of CT scans. ⋯ Recent CT utilization in our ED increased in all anatomic categories assessed, with chest CTs and neck CTs increasing the most, followed by abdomen-pelvis CTs, facial bone CTs, and head CTs.