FOAMed

Cerebral Venous Thrombosis (CVT) is a rare but emergent cause of headache. It is a difficult diagnosis to make due to a wide variety of symptoms. This article reviews the etiology, risk factors and symptoms of CVT. Imaging and treatment regimens are also discussed.

The last few months have seen an enormous amount of controversy in the press, in the FOAMsphere, and in our ED hallways regarding the new consensus sepsis definition. The goal of this post is not to rehash the strengths and weaknesses of Sepsis 3, but rather to explore the pathophysiologic basis of the simplified clinical features of sepsis outlined in the qSOFA score, which might explain why the definition shook out the way it did. Hopefully, such an understanding will help us apply lessons learned from the derivation of Sepsis 3 to the management of these profoundly sick patients.

CT: the donut of truth. Most physicians breathe a little easier sending a patient home with a negative CT abdomen/pelvis. However, the power of x-ray vision doesn’t allow us to turn off our brains. Certain pathologies may have only subtle findings on CT, and others may lend themselves better to other imaging modalities, such as ultrasound. By being aware of these pathologies and how to identify them, we can better recognize patients at risk of a missed diagnosis.

BNP (Brain Natriuretic Peptide) is a commonly used biomarker for detecting heart failure in the emergency department. It’s levels can be affected by various extraneous factors such as obesity and renal failure. This article reviews the potential uses of BNP, including its pros and cons, in the emergency department.

The pregnant patient with nausea and vomiting is something most providers want to avoid. A wide range of conditions can cause these symptoms in the pregnant patient, and these conditions can range from the benign morning sickness to life-threatening preeclampsia and acute fatty liver of pregnancy. What can you do to manage these patients while diagnosing severe disease?

What do you think of with the patient presenting with fever, headache, and focal neurologic signs? Meningitis? Encephalitis? What about brain abscess? This post is filled with pearls and pitfalls on the pathogenesis, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of brain abscess.

Common postpartum emergencies include hemorrhage, infections, hypertension, preeclampsia/eclampsia, and headache. HELLP and peripartum cardiomyopathy are rare postpartum complications. This article reviews the presentation of these emergencies and how they are properly diagnosed and managed in the emergency department.

Having difficulty deciding between procedural sedation agents in your pediatric patients? Read on: we provide a focused review of commonly utilized medications, with tips and tricks on how to cater your personal sedation practice to the clinical scenario.

DAH is a medical emergency characterized by bleeding of pulmonary microvasculature into the alveoli. Symptoms are non-specific and clinicians should keep a high clinical suspicion for the disorder. Protecting the airway takes precedence. Immunosuppressive medications are the mainstay of medical therapy.

Is it possible to teach in the ED? What about all of the critically ill patients and full waiting room? It is possible to balance great education and patient care: this post contains keys to success for teaching in the busy ED.