The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Bedside ultrasound to determine prandial status.
The prandial status of ED patients is often unknown. Because a full stomach predisposes patients to aspiration during a variety of urgent interventions, a method of determining the degree of gastric fullness would be of potential clinical importance. The purpose of this single-blind interventional trial was to determine if bedside ultrasound, performed by EPs, could accurately determine prandial status. ⋯ We found that the technique was specific in identifying a full stomach but only moderately reliable in identifying an empty one. Best results (sensitivity S + 86%, specificity S- 70%, accuracy A+ 78%) were achieved only after water ingestion with the patient in the RLD position. We conclude that bedside ultrasound is of only limited value for determining prandial states in the ED setting.
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Clinical Trial
Diagnostic utility of echocardiography in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism.
The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of echocardiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). For this, we enrolled 162 patients with suspected PE in a prospective study. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of right ventricular dilatation, the Doppler evidence of pulmonary hypertension, and their possible associations. ⋯ Adding echocardiography to the diagnostic strategy for PE would avoid about 12 to 28% of lung-scan angiography procedures, but would cause inappropriate treatment of 4 to 14% of all treated patients. The clinical utility of echocardiography in the diagnosis of PE is limited. The reduction in the number of standard diagnostic procedures obtained through its use would be counterbalanced by an excess of patients inappropriately treated.
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Comparative Study
The effect of practitioner characteristics on patient pain and embarrassment during ED internal examinations.
The objective was to determine if practitioner characteristics influence patients' pain and embarrassment during an emergency department (ED) internal pelvic examination (IPE). This prospective, comparative study was performed in an urban, university teaching hospital ED with an annual census of 64,000. The study population consisted of a convenience sample of patients who required an IPE as part of her ED evaluation. Information gathered included patient age and final diagnosis, as well as examiner gender and level of training (LOT). Immediately after IPE, the patient was asked to rate both pain and embarrassment of the examination using a previously validated 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS). Finally, each subject was asked to indicate her practitioner gender preference for IPE. The influence of examiner gender and LOT on patient pain and embarrassment was assessed using a t-test or ANOVA with significance defined as P <.05. A total of 278 subjects completed the study (mean age 27.7 +/- 10.5 years, range 13 to 70 years). The mean pain and embarrassment scores were 29.7 and 17.5 respectively. Examiner gender, examiner LOT and patient age did not predict pain and embarrassment scores. Overall, 173 (62%) patients had no practitioner gender preference, whereas 93 (34%) preferred women and 11 (4%) preferred men. ⋯ Examiner characteristics do not influence either the pain or the embarrassment associated with IPE in the ED.
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This study examined consecutive patients with unexplained fever (UF) presenting to the ED to define their characteristics and to compare distinctive parameters between admitted and discharged patients. During a 3-month period, all adult patients presenting to the ED with UF were prospectively followed for 1 month. ⋯ The admitted patients were older, had more comorbidity, higher leukocyte count, and anemia, but not a higher degree of fever. Older age, comorbidity, leukocytosis, and anemia, but not higher degree of fever, should direct the decision toward admission of a patient with UF.
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Case Reports
Diffusion-weighted MRI of intracerebral hemorrhage clinically undifferentiated from ischemic stroke.
This report describes diffusion-weighted MRI findings of some intracerebral hemorrhages clinically undifferentiated from ischemic stroke. We treated patients with characteristic features of intracerebral hemorrhages that could distinguish themselves from ischemic lesion on diffusion-weighted imaging. Therefore, we think diffusion-weighted imaging could be an emergency screening tool for ischemic stroke as an alternative to computed tomography, and the EP should be familiar with the diffusion-weighted imaging findings of intracerebral hemorrhage as well as cerebral infarction.