The American journal of emergency medicine
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Comparative Study
How can lifeguards recover better? A cross-over study comparing resting, running, and foam rolling.
The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of active recovery in form of running or foam rolling on clearing blood lactate compared to remain sitting after a water rescue. ⋯ We found that surf lifesavers clear out blood lactate more efficient when performing an active recovery protocol. Foam rolling is an effective method of increasing the rate of blood lactate clearance. These two recovery methods are also adequate for surf lifeguards as they do not interfere with the surveillance aspect of their job.
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Pulmonary embolism is a relatively common clinical presentation of venous thromboembolism, which develops in relation to acute pulmonary arterial occlusion mostly caused by thrombi of the lower limbs. ⋯ We know that exogenous estrogen increase the risk of venous thromboembolism in therapeutic use. It should be kept in mind that even single ingestion of a single high-dose exogenous estrogen intake may induce pulmonary thromboembolism.
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We describe a patient with pneumocephalus following an epidural steroid injection (ESI) who presented with altered mental status, headache, focal neurologic findings and seizures. Pneumocephalus has rarely been described following ESI. A 34-year-old female presented with an altered level of consciousness worsening over approximately 18h following an ESI for lumbar back pain. ⋯ Case reports noting complications associated with this technique have been reported; rarely including pneumocephalus. Complications from the pneumocephalus are even less commonly reported. Though rare following an ESI and generally self-limited without complication, pneumocephalus should be considered in the differential diagnosis when evaluating a patient with neurologic deficits after instrumentation.
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Case Reports
Acute intractable headache and oculomotor nerve palsy associated with nicorandil: A case report.
Acute non-traumatic headaches with neurological deficits alarm emergency department (ED) physicians. Typically, a sudden headache with oculomotor nerve palsy involving a pupil indicates the possibility of a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to an aneurysm originating from the posterior communicating artery. For the ED physician, thinking beyond the possibility of an SAH can be crucial. ⋯ Cerebrospinal fluid analysis was also unremarkable. The patient's headache and oculomotor nerve palsy improved completely after discontinuation of nicorandil for 3 days. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report on side effects of nicorandil presenting as a severe headache with reversible oculomotor nerve palsy involving a pupil, symptoms which mimicked a possible SAH due to aneurysm.
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Observational Study
The Revised Trauma Score plus serum albumin level improves the prediction of mortality in trauma patients.
The Revised Trauma Score (RTS) is used worldwide in prehospital practice and in the emergency department (ED) settings to triage trauma patients. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of the RTS plus serum albumin (RTS-A) and to compare it with other existing trauma scores as well as to compare the predictive performance of the Trauma and Injury Severity Score with the RTS-A (TRISS-A) with the original TRISS. ⋯ The value of the RTS-A predicts the in-hospital mortality of trauma patients better than the RTS, and the TRISS-A is a better mortality predictor compared to the original TRISS in patients with blunt trauma.