The American journal of emergency medicine
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Review Case Reports
Pneumomediastinum caused by isolated oral-facial trauma.
Pneumomediastinum from isolated blunt or penetrating oral-facial trauma is a rare occurrence, which can be associated with facial fractures or may be iatrogenic. We present two cases caused by high-pressure-induced facial injuries that had very different management and outcomes. ⋯ This case series illustrates isolated facial trauma causing pneumomediastinum and reviews the literature over last 20 years for similar cases. The authors advocate emergency department management of pneumomediastinum from facial trauma.
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Drug treatment can be effective in community-based settings, but drug users tend to underuse these treatment options and instead seek services in emergency departments (EDs) and other acute care settings. The goals of this study were to describe prevalence and correlates of drug-related ED visits. ⋯ Significant variability exists for risk of ED use for different types of drugs. These findings can help inform where links between EDs with local treatment programs can be formed to provide preventive care and injury-prevention interventions to reduce the risk of subsequent ED visits.
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This study aimed at (1) establishing the prevalence of paniclike anxiety in emergency department (ED) patients with unexplained chest pain (UCP); (2) describing and comparing the sociodemographic, medical, and psychiatric characteristics of UCP patients with and without paniclike anxiety; and (3) measuring the rate of identification of panic in this population. ⋯ Paniclike anxiety is common in ED patients with UCP, and this condition is rarely diagnosed in this population.
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Identifying acute pyelonephritis (APN) with early obstructive uropathy is clinically important in the emergency department (ED) because obstructive urolithiasis is an independent risk factor for inpatient death, prolonged hospitalization, and failure of outpatient APN therapy. Furthermore, diagnosis of an early obstructive uropathy can be difficult when based solely on clinical findings. Clinicians may assume the cause of the patient's symptoms to be APN alone, without considering the concurrent presence of an obstructing stone. ⋯ In this case, hydronephrosis on bedside ultrasound examination was an indirect marker of a distal ureteral obstruction. By detecting the presence of hydronephrosis in patients with APN, emergency physicians may dramatically increase their ability to identify those patients that need further radiographic investigation and ultimately decrease the rate of outpatient treatment failure. Further surveillance data are needed to determine the statistical characteristics of this novel screening test and if routine renal evaluation of all patients with APN is warranted.
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Case Reports
Carboplatin: a new cause of severe type B lactic acidosis secondary to mitochondrial DNA damage.
In adults, type B lactic acidosis is rare and generally associated with a toxin, particularly metformin or antiretroviral nucleosides analogues. We report a case of lactic acidosis caused by carboplatin in a 50-year-old woman suffering from primary peritoneal carcinoma. She was admitted for severe lactic acidosis (pH 6.77, lactate 19 mmol/L) associated with multiple organ failure (PaO₂/FiO₂ 96, creatinine 231 μmol/L, aspartate aminotransferase > 25,000 UI, factor V 13%) occurring during the sixth carboplatin cycle. ⋯ A respiratory chain dysfunction of enzyme activities encoded by mtDNA and multiple mtDNA deletions were found in muscle and liver tissue. It is generally accepted that carboplatin toxicity results in bone marrow suppression, renal dysfunction, or neurotoxicity and that platinating agents have no direct mitochondrial effect. However, although very unusual, emergency physicians must be aware that carboplatin can cause mitochondrial toxicity and trigger lactic acidosis.