The American journal of emergency medicine
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Bromism is an unusual syndrome characterized by a variety of nervous system impairments such as ataxia, confusion, and delusions. Contemporaneous cases are rare as therapeutic use of bromide-containing medications has declined, but bromides can still be obtained as unregulated dietary supplements. Bromism from dietary supplements is not well-described. ⋯ He was treated with maintenance intravenous normal saline to promote excretion of the bromide ion and slowly returned to baseline over ten days. Bromism is an unusual but well-described constellation of neurologic impairments that presents insidiously and may be easily missed. The emergency physician should be aware of the dangers of bromide-containing dietary supplements and should educate patients taking these supplements of their risks.
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Case Reports
Post-concussive syndrome to primary central nervous system lymphoma: An insidious presentation.
Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) and central neurogenic hyperventilation (CNH) are both rare occurrences, especially when associated with Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). We report a case of an immunocompetent individual who presented to the emergency department (ED) with vague neurological symptoms found to have an EBV-associated PCNSL complicated by CNH. This rare occurrence had an insidious presentation initially mistaken for "post-concussive syndrome" at an outside ED. Insidious neurological malignancies, posterior strokes, intracranial hematomas, and other life-threatening pathologies should always be on the differential in patients presenting to the ED with falls with associated neurological symptoms, especially with unexplained blood gas abnormalities.
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During manual chest compression, maintaining accurate compression depth and consistency is a challenge. Therefore, mechanical chest compression devices(mCCDs) have been increasingly incorporated in clinical practice. Evaluation and comparison of the efficacy of these devices is critical for extensive clinical application. Hence, this study compared the cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) efficiency of two chest compression devices, LUCAS™ 3(Physio-Control, Redmond, USA) and Easy Pulse (Schiller Medizintechnik GMBH, Feldkirchen, Germany), in terms of blood flow using ultrasonography(USG) in a swine model. ⋯ The Easy Pulse had a shallower compression depth and slower PSV but had a wider systolic diameter in the femoral artery as compared to that in LUCAS™ 3. Blood flow and EtCo2 were higher in the easy pulse group probably because of the wider diameter. Therefore, an easy pulse may create and maintain more effective intrathoracic pressure.