Annals of emergency medicine
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Chest pain is one of the most common reasons for emergency ambulance calls. Patients are routinely transported to the hospital to prevent acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of clinical pathways in the out-of-hospital environment. The Troponin-only Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes decision aid and History, ECG, Age, Risk Factors, Troponin score require cardiac troponin (cTn) measurement, whereas the History and ECG-only Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes decision aid and History, ECG, Age, Risk Factors score do not. ⋯ With point-of-care cTn testing, decision aids can identify patients at a low risk of type 1 AMI in the out-of-hospital environment. When used alongside clinical judgment, and with appropriate training, such tools may usefully enhance out-of-hospital risk stratification.
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Acute epidural hematomas can lead to rapid neurologic decompensation and death. Epidural hematomas may require emergency surgical clot removal, but many patients live far away from a trauma center. This case report describes a pediatric patient with an acute epidural hematoma with significant neurologic compromise who initially presented to a nontrauma center. ⋯ The emergency physician at the nontrauma ED inserted an intraosseous catheter intracranially to temporarily decompress the hematoma due to long transport times. The patient survived with complete neurologic recovery. This is the youngest known patient in whom an intraosseous catheter was used to drain an intracranial hematoma.