Articles: acetaminophen.
-
In contrast to the widespread practice in life-threatening emergencies, delegation of medical pain therapy to paramedics by the medical director of Emergency Medical Services, EMS, are still the exception in Germany. This is due to the fact that in non-life-threatening situations, the expected benefit and potential side effects of drug therapy have to be carefully weighed. In addition, in Germany federal law generally restricts the administration of opiates to physicians. ⋯ The prehospital intravenous administration of paracetamol by paramedics to patients with limb trauma is simple, safe and in 50 % of the patients effective in achieving a NRS value < 5; however, further improvements in prehospital pain therapy initiated by paramedics are desirable, especially in patients with an initial NRS value > 7.
-
Transient 5-oxoprolinuria is a phenomenon that is well recognised in adults. We illustrate an unusual paediatric case of transient 5-oxoprolinuria presenting during an episode of severe sepsis with concomitant paracetamol use. The 15-month-old patient had an extremely high anion gap metabolic acidosis. Adequate resuscitation failed to correct the biochemical disturbance, and high levels of 5-oxoproline were identified. A combination of haemofiltration, replenishment of glutathione stores with N-acetylcysteine and cessation of paracetamol administration resulted in the resolution of the acidosis. Subsequent testing following treatment of the sepsis revealed no ongoing 5-oxoprolinuria. ⋯ • Transient 5-oxoprolinuria is a phenomenon rarely reported in the paediatric population. • It highlights the importance of investigating a high anion gap such that unusual diagnoses are not missed.
-
While our ability to detect and manage fever has evolved since its conceptualization in the 5(th) century BC, controversy remains over the best evidence-based practices regarding if and when to treat this physiologic derangement in the critically ill. There are two basic fields of thought: (I) fever should be suppressed because its metabolic costs outweigh its potential physiologic benefit in an already stressed host; vs. (II) fever is a protective adaptive response that should be allowed to run its course under most circumstances. The latter approach, sometime referred to as the "let it ride" philosophy, has been supported by several recent randomized controlled trials like that of Young et al. [2015], which are challenging earlier observational studies and may be pushing the pendulum away from the Pavlovian treatment response.