Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Interhospital variation in the RATPAC trial (Randomised Assessment of Treatment using Panel Assay of Cardiac markers).
The RATPAC trial showed that using a point-of-care panel of CK-MB(mass), myoglobin and troponin at baseline and 90 min increased the proportion of patients successfully discharged home, leading to reduced median length of initial hospital stay. However, it did not change mean hospital stay and may have increased mean costs per patient. The aim of this study was to explore variation in outcome and costs between participating hospitals. ⋯ The effect of point-of-care panel assessment on successful discharge and costs per patient varied markedly between hospitals and may depend on local protocols, staff practices and available facilities.
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High-echoic objects in the hepatic vessels of patients with cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) are frequently detected by ultrasonography. ⋯ High-echoic objects were often observed on ultrasonography in CPA patients; these objects were considered hepatic venous gas. The presence of high-echoic objects may be a poor prognostic sign in patients with CPA.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cardioversion of acute atrial fibrillation in the emergency department: a prospective randomised trial.
Strategies to restore sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) lasting less than 48 h with haemodynamic stability remain controversial. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that electrical cardioversion (EC) would be more effective and safer in converting acute AF to sinus rhythm, compared with intravenous propafenone treatment. ⋯ EC was more effective in patients with acute AF and resulted in a shorter length of stay in the ED than PC. Adverse events were small in number and transient in both groups of patients. Clinical trials registration number NCT00933634.
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A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether physical and laboratory data can exclude intra-abdominal injury in children. A total of 54 papers was found using the reported search, of which three represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that physical and laboratory data review may decrease the need for abdominal CT in the paediatric population.
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To determine the accuracy of using nitroglycerine as a 'test of treatment' in the diagnosis of cardiac chest pain we undertook a systematic review of studies of diagnostic accuracy. Databases searched included PubMed, Cochrane Database, Google Scholar, Science Citation Index, EMBASE and manual searching of bibliographies of known primary and review articles. Studies were included if sublingual nitroglycerine was the index test, its effect on the patient's pain score was recorded and the reference test was performed on at least 80% of patients. ⋯ The diagnostic OR from the combined studies was 1.2 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.5), which is not significantly different from 1. In the acute setting, nitroglycerine is not a reliable test of treatment for use in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. However, further studies are needed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of nitroglycerine for recurrent exertional chest pain.