Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) is a life-threatening condition, and rapid diagnosis is necessary to facilitate early surgical intervention. We sought to evaluate the accuracy of presenting symptoms, physical examination signs, computed tomography with angiography (CTA), and point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) for diagnosis of rAAA. ⋯ Classic clinical symptoms associated with rAAA have poor sensitivity, and their absence does not rule out the condition. CTA has reasonable accuracy, but misses some cases of rAAA. PoCUS is a valuable tool that can help guide the need for urgent transfer to a vascular center in patients suspected of having rAAA.
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Review Meta Analysis
Sensitivity of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in transient global amnesia as a function of time from symptom onset.
The objective was to systematically evaluate the sensitivity of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) for transient global amnesia (TGA) across various time frames compared to the reference-standard clinical criteria. ⋯ DW-MRI lesions are uncommon in patients with TGA early after symptom onset, but the sensitivity (i.e., positivity rate) of DW-MRI increases with time. Despite the limited quality of existing evidence, obtaining an early DW-MRI in patients with clinical diagnosis of TGA in the acute setting is likely a low-yield test.