subarachnoid hemorrhage

This post looks at why we miss subarachnoid hemorrhage, specifically imaging and lumbar puncture.

This post covers the ins and outs of managing the critically ill patient with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

What do you do with the CSF sample with blood in suspected subarachnoid hemorrhage or meningitis? This post looks at the evidence behind those pesky RBCs.

Breakdowns in communication can cause all sorts of problems. This month’s Medical Malpractice Insights looks at a case of failure to communicate.

An LP gives providers the ability to perform CSF analysis for red blood cells and detect xanthochromia by visual inspection or spectrophotometry. In most of the world, including the United States, the predominant approach to identifying xanthochromia is visual detection. However, this technique is subjective and considered unreliable by many. Spectrophotometry is a more objective test but, has lower specificity, carries a higher cost and is unavailable in the majority of hospitals.

The challenge of emergency medicine is to determine if a patient has a serious and/or deadly condition, even when he or she presents with a common chief complaint. A simple HA can be life-threatening…