What other patient populations are at risk for developing atherosclerotic disease and ACS that emergency physicians can miss? If our community is responsible for recognizing and treating initial presentations of patients with ACS, we must not only be aware of atypical presentations of ACS, but also non-traditional risk factors for CHD.
Non-Traditional ACS Risk Factors: A Snake in the Grass Read More »
Need a quick refresher on Acute Coronary Syndrome? Let’s talk about unstable angina, NSTEMIs, and STEMIs.
EM@3AM – Acute Coronary Syndrome Read More »
Supraventricular tachycardia is often viewed as a simple arrhythmia to fix: start with vagal maneuvers, then go with adenosine. But what if these don’t work. What are your other options?
Treatment of Refractory SVT: Pearls and Pitfalls Read More »
The patient with acute valvular emergency can be terrifying. These patients may rapidly decompensate, and the physiology and management are complex. What can you do to prepare? This post provides pearls and pitfalls in the evaluation and management of patients with acute valvular emergency. You may be surprised what you read…
Acute Valvular Emergencies: Pearls and Pitfalls Read More »
The HEART score and pathway have revolutionized evaluation of the chest pain patient in the ED. This pathway can reduce risk of missed major cardiovascular event to < 1%. Many centers utilize the HEART pathway; however, do the score and pathway have a weakness?
The Great and Powerful HEART Score: Does it have a weakness? Read More »
Cardiac arrhythmias are not common in pregnancy, but they can occur. While the workup and management is quite similar to the non-pregnant patient, there are subtle differences. This is a brief review of the ED management of unstable and stable tachycardic arrhythmias in pregnancy.
Tachycardic Arrhythmias in Pregnancy: Management Read More »
Heart failure is a common condition managed in the ED. The primary cause of heart failure is related to ischemic heart disease, but many other conditions can lead to heart failure. Patients can present in several ways. This post investigates the ED evaluation and management of patients with different types of heart failure.
ED Management of Heart Failure: Pearls and Pitfalls Read More »
In cardiac arrest care there has been a lot of focus over the years on limiting interruptions in chest compressions during CPR. In fact, this concept has become a major focus of the current AHA Guidelines. Why?
R.E.B.E.L. EM – Beyond ACLS: Pre-Charging the Defibrillator Read More »
Unstable and symptomatic bradycardias require urgent intervention. This is an overview of bradycardias and how to approach them in the emergency department.
An Approach to Bradycardia in the Emergency Department Read More »
Lead aVR is a commonly ignored lead and I have even heard of it referred to as the Rodney Dangerfield of ECG leads as it gets no respect. I have anecdotally heard many EM physicians activate the cath lab for STE in lead aVR and many cardiologists say that these are not STEMI patients. So is lead aVR now getting too much respect? Well, I thought it would be a great idea to bring the great Amal Mattu on to the show to answer a few questions for us regarding STE in lead aVR.
