The American journal of emergency medicine
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Review Case Reports
C3-C4 cervical disc herniation producing Brown-Séquard syndrome: A case report and review of the literature.
Brown-Séquard Syndrome (BSS) is a rare form of incomplete spinal cord injury and is characterized by ipsilateral motor deficit and contralateral sensory loss. BSS is commonly associated with traumatic etiologies, but non-traumatic causes should be considered as well. A 38-year-old woman presented with a 3-week history of weakness in her right upper extremity, and she has developed numbness and tingling in her left upper and lower extremities over the past week and a half, along with some motor difficulty. ⋯ Hemovac placed during surgery was removed on post-op day one, and she was re-evaluated by PT/OT and recommended for outpatient therapies on post-op day two. Our case, along with a review of the literature, highlights those non-traumatic causes of BSS should be considered as a cause of BSS. BSS produced by a herniated cervical disc is extremely rare and is often misdiagnosed.
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Multicenter Study
The feasibility of emergency department observation units in the management of mild to moderate hyponatremia.
To describe the feasibility of managing hyponatremia patients under outpatient observation status in an academic medical center, and compare outcomes based on the use of an emergency department observation unit (EDOU). ⋯ Management of selected hyponatremia patients under observation status is feasible, with the EDOU setting demonstrating lower admit rates, shorter length of stay, and lower total direct costs with similar clinical outcomes.
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The reliability of manual pulse checks has been questioned but is still recommended in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidelines. The aim is to compare the 10-s carotid pulse check (CPC) between heart massage cycles with the continuous femoral pulse check (CoFe PuC) in CPR, and to propose a better location to shorten the interruption times for pulse check. ⋯ CoFe PuC provides much earlier and more effective information about the pulse than CPC. This shortens the interruption times in CPR. CoFe PuC should be recommended as a new and useful method in CPR guidelines.
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The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is an assessment tool commonly used by emergency department (ED) clinicians to objectively describe level of consciousness, especially in trauma patients. This study aims to assess the effect of drug and alcohol intoxication on GCS scores in cases of traumatic head injury. ⋯ Among patients with head trauma, intoxicated patients had statistically significant lower GCS scores as compared to matched patients with similar Injury Severity Scores.