J Emerg Med
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Changes in the lumbar and sacral spine occur with exposure to microgravity in astronauts; monitoring these alterations without radiographic capabilities on the International Space Station (ISS) requires novel diagnostic solutions to be developed. ⋯ Spinal ultrasound provides essential anatomic information in the cervical and lumbosacral spine; this technique may be extensible to point-of-care situations in emergency departments or resource-challenged areas without direct access to additional radiologic capabilities.
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Head and neck arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are reported to occur in 0.1% of the population. Extracranial AVMs account for only 8.1% of head and neck AVMs. Of these, traumatically acquired AVMs of the face are generally reported as quite rare. When secondary to trauma, the lesion is usually supplied by a single vessel, as compared to the multiple vessels often seen with congenital etiology. ⋯ Traumatic AVMs are quite rare in the head and neck and are mostly seen in the extremities. Although rare, they have been reported after typical facial trauma as well as elective surgical procedures. The management of such lesions may include selective embolization or surgical exploration with ligation. Emergency physicians and facial trauma surgeons are challenged with recognizing and treating these rare but very real vascular lesions. It is our hope that this case report provides an overview of posttraumatic AVMs in the head and neck.
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Heart failure (HF) emergency department (ED) visits are commonly due to HF self-care nonadherence. ⋯ Patients seeking ED care for decompensated HF had inaccurate HF beliefs and poor self-care adherence. Lack of association between HF beliefs and self care (and trend of an inverse relationship) reflects a need for predischarge HF education, including an explanation of what HF means and how it can be better controlled through self-care behaviors.
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Seizure is estimated to be the presenting symptom of pulmonary embolism (PE) < 1% of the time. A review of the available literature on the subject indicates that many of the reported cases are postmortem findings, and invariably, are examples of delayed diagnosis and treatment. ⋯ Despite an atypical presentation, the authors were able to diagnose the patient due to a high level of suspicion for the disease. Our goal is to make physicians more attuned to the possibility of a PE as a final diagnosis in patients who present with new-onset seizures.