The American journal of emergency medicine
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A case of oral penicillin anaphylaxis is described, and the terminology, occurrence, clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of anaphylaxis are reviewed. Emergency physicians should be aware of oral penicillin anaphylaxis in order to prevent its occurrence by prescribing the antibiotic judiciously and knowledgeably and to offer optimal medical therapy once this life-threatening reaction has begun.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Ipecac-induced emesis versus gastric lavage: a controlled study in normal adults.
Ipecac-induced emesis and gastric lavage are the two procedures most widely used to evacuate the stomachs of patients who have ingested poisons. To resolve a long-standing controversy over the relative efficacy of these two methods, the authors carried out a controlled study in which they administered 25 100-micrograms tablets of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) to 18 fasting normal adult volunteers on two separate days. On one day, each subject had emesis induced with 30 ml of ipecac syrup followed by 1,000 ml of tap water; on another day, each underwent gastric aspiration and lavage with a 1.1-cm orogastric tube using 3 l of fluid. ⋯ The recovered vomitus or gastric washings from each procedure were then analyzed for elemental cobalt using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The mean rate of recovery of the ingested tracer with ipecac-induced emesis was only 28%, whereas gastric lavage resulted in retrieval of 45% (paired t-test, P less than 0.005). In this study, carefully performed gastric lavage was the more effective method of gastric evacuation of tablets in the adult subject.
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In 18 months, 44 patients underwent thoracotomy in an emergency department (ED) for penetrating thoracic injuries. Of 14 patients resuscitated, seven (50%) survived, and all were neurologically intact. Patients were classified according to the quality of signs of life in transit or upon arrival at the ED. ⋯ Five of the seven survivors (71%) arrived at the ED by rapid transport without the benefit of any pre-hospital life support. Patient classification appears to be a valuable tool in evaluating the benefit of ED thoracotomy. The neurological status of all survivors and pertinent transportation data should be included in all future studies of ED thoracotomy. "Scoop and run" in the urban setting with rapid transport capability may be superior to pre-hospital stabilization of victims of penetrating thoracic trauma.
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Airway control in patients with suspected laryngotracheal injury following blunt trauma is a challenging problem. Tracheostomy remains the treatment of choice in most instances. This report describes a patient with a laryngotracheal injury in whom initial airway control was achieved using orotracheal intubation. The indications for this method are discussed, and an approach to initial airway management in these injuries is outlined.