Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Review Meta Analysis
Point-of-Care Ocular Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of Retinal Detachment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Ocular complaints are common presentations to the emergency department (ED). Among these, retinal detachment can cause significant vision loss if not rapidly diagnosed and referred for appropriate treatment. Point-of-care ultrasound has been suggested to identify the diagnosis rapidly when the ocular examination is limited or the ophthalmology service is not readily available. However, prior studies were limited by small sample sizes, resulting in wide ranges of potential accuracy. The primary outcome for this review was to determine the test characteristics of point-of-care ocular ultrasound for the diagnosis of retinal detachment. ⋯ Point-of-care ocular ultrasound is sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of retinal detachment. Future studies should determine the ideal training protocol and the influence of color Doppler and contrast-enhanced ultrasound on diagnostic accuracy.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized placebo-controlled trial of droperidol and ondansetron for adult emergency department patients with nausea.
The objective was to separately compare effectiveness of 1.25 mg of intravenous (IV) droperidol and 8 mg of IV ondansetron with 0.9% saline placebo for adult emergency department (ED) patients with nausea. A novel primary outcome measure, expected to aid clinical interpretation of reported results, was employed. ⋯ For adult ED patients with nausea, superiority was not demonstrated for droperidol or ondansetron over placebo.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
A Prospective, Multicenter Evaluation of Point-of-care Ultrasound for Small-bowel Obstruction in the Emergency Department.
The main objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for the diagnosis of small-bowel obstruction (SBO) compared to computed tomography (CT). ⋯ POCUS is moderately sensitive for SBO, although less specific, when performed by a diverse group of emergency physicians across multiple EDs. Interpretation of acquired POCUS images is significantly more accurate when performed by physicians with prior emergency ultrasound fellowship training and familiarity with the sonographic appearance of SBO.