Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
-
A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether rocuronium is as effective as succinylcholine at facilitating laryngoscopy during rapid sequence intubation (RSI). A total of 94 papers was found using the reported search, of which seven 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 rocuronium is as effective as succinylcholine at facilitating laryngoscopy during RSI.
-
A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether intravenous adenosine is effective in the treatment of unstable paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. A total of 711 papers was found using the reported search, of which eight 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 there is strong evidence to support the efficacy of using adenosine as first-line treatment in patients who present to emergency departments with unstable paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia.
-
A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether early enteral feeding is indicated in acute pancreatitis. A total of 33 papers was found using the reported search, of which four 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 patients with acute severe pancreatitis should receive enteral feeding.
-
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.
-
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.