The American journal of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
Barriers to outpatient stress testing follow-up for low-risk chest pain patients presenting to an ED chest pain unit.
Outpatient stress testing (OST) after evaluation in the emergency department (ED) is an acceptable evaluation method for patients presenting to the ED with low-risk chest pain (CP). However, not all patients return for OST. Barriers to follow-up evaluation exist and are poorly understood. In this study, we examined the influence of demographic and social characteristics on OST compliance. ⋯ More than one-third of low-risk CP patients do not follow-up with scheduled OST. Of the variables analyzed, both employment status and insurance type were statistically significant and should be included in risk stratification strategies for OST.
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There are several studies evaluating the cardiac effects of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning during the acute period; however, the number of studies evaluating the long-term cardiac effects is limited. ⋯ In patients presenting to the ED with CO poisoning, COHb levels can be helpful for risk stratification in the long-term development of AMI.
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Brugada syndrome is an inherited heart disease without structural abnormalities that is thought to arise as a result of accelerated inactivation of Na channels and predominance of transient outward K current to generate a voltage gradient in the right ventricular layers. Brugada syndrome occurs in patients with structurally normal heart and predisposes patients to malignant ventricular arrhythmias. Acute pulmonary embolism has been associated with a variety of electrocardiograms,and rarely, it may mimic electrocardiographic pattern of Brugada syndrome and this condition was defined as Brugada phenocopy.