An 82 year-old man with a history of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and CAD s/p stenting was driving home from the grocery store when he experienced sudden vision loss in his right eye around 2:30 pm. He has no previous history of vision problems and is puzzled but eventually concerned. By the time he ...
The increased troponin used to be a straight ticket to the cardiology service. Now, the picture isn't so clear. What do you need to consider in the patient with elevated troponin?
What are the new updates for DVT and PE from the American College of Chest Physicians? This post provides a summary of the key recommendations for EM providers.
What do you do with the head trauma patient who is anticoagulated? Do you discharge the patient, observe and repeat CT, or admit the patient? This post evaluates this question and more.
In 2002, a new standard of care was established when the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) highlighted the importance of recognizing sepsis and initiating treatment early. Once we find that a patient meets Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria with a source of infection, rapid and ap...
Does your choice of fluids for resuscitation in sepsis matter? Multiple studies have been performed to determine whether septic patients benefit from colloid versus crystalloid IV fluids, and other studies have specifically looked at the different kinds of fluids within those specific groups. Debate now exists as to which fluid will improve patient outcomes.
A great deal of literature exists on sepsis and providing state of the art care in the ED. As EM physicians, we pride ourselves on resuscitating sick patients, and we are well aware that septic patients can rapidly decline clinically. Finding the source and providing appropriate antibiotics, adequat...
Pulmonary embolism is a life-threatening entity affecting up to 900,000 individuals a year. Unfortunately, D-dimer levels increase with age decreasing the yield of the test. In order to increase the specificity safely, Douma et al. performed a retrospective analysis to derive age-adjusted D-dimer c...
