Open Access Emergency Medicine最新文献

Background: Obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in trauma scenarios; however, there has been conflicting evidence on outcomes of obesity and penetrating injuries, specifically gunshot wounds and stab wounds. We hypothesized that obesity may be protective due to a "cushioning effect" attributed to increased adiposity.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients presenting to a Level 1 Trauma Center with a penetrating trauma (gunshot/stab) injury during 2008-2021. Patients with a BMI ≥ 30 were compared to those with a BMI < 30. The primary outcome was Injury Severity Score (ISS). Secondary outcomes included intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, days on ventilation, length of hospital stay, service of admission (trauma surgery, general surgery, discharged home, general medical floor), the body region of injury(s), Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), OR requirement, type of surgery, and discharge status. Statistical analysis was performed using χ²-test or Fisher's exact tests for categorical data, and Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test for continuous variables with p < 0.05 as statistically significant. Subgroup analysis was performed based on the mechanism of injury.

Results: There were 721 patients that met inclusion criteria, of which 540 were classified in the non-obese group and 181 (25.1%) in the obese group. The primary outcome, mean ISS score, in obese patients (9.0, SD = 13.0) and non-obese patients (9.4, SD = 13.8) was similar between groups respectively. Secondary outcomes, which included rates of severe abdominal injury (AIS ≥ 3), rates of intra-abdominal organ injury, and rates of gastro-intestinal resection, were also similar between non-obese and obese patients.

Conclusion: This study did not demonstrate the existence of a "cushioning effect" in the setting of penetrating traumatic injury. Patients with increased BMI had similar a ISS score and patterns of injury as their non-obese counterparts.

Advances in telemedicine have allowed physicians to provide care in areas that were previously geographically or practically inaccessible. Roughly 70% of all US hospital have less than 200 bed capacity and nearly 50% have fewer than 100 beds. These smaller hospitals often do not have specialists available for bedside patient care, making them potential beneficiaries of telemedicine medical specialty services. In 2005, the American Stroke Association proposed implementing telemedicine services in effort to increase access to acute stroke care in neurologically underserved areas such as small hospitals. Tele-stroke services have since become established across the country and are now utilized by approximately 30% of US hospitals. By reducing the time between presentation and evaluation by a stroke specialist, tele-stroke programs have successfully increased patient access to life-saving treatment with tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA) treatments. This change has been especially profound remote and underserved community hospitals. However in the evaluation of acute vision loss, an area where ophthalmology and stroke care overlap, increased reliance on tele-stroke services has contributed to some unique challenges. Acute vision has a complex differential and is commonly a result of conditions other than stroke. When tele-stroke services are engaged for the evaluation of acute vision loss, the neurologist is asked to make medical decisions without complete information about the eye. This situation can expose patients to costly or inappropriate testing, unnecessary hospitalizations, or lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment of non-neurologic conditions of the eye. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the overlap between stroke and vision loss, highlight the challenges inherent in using tele-stroke in evaluating acute vision loss and to offer our comments on how increased communication between emergency medicine, ophthalmology, and neurology services can ensure that patients with vision loss receive the highest standard of care in all hospitals.

Chest pain is the second leading cause of all emergency department (ED) visits in adults in the United States, with nearly 11 million encounters yearly. While identifying low-risk patients is crucial for early discharge, identifying high-risk patients in ED is vital in timely and appropriate acute coronary syndrome (ACS) management. Traditional methods such as physical examination, cardiac markers, or imaging tests cannot reliably confirm or rule out ACS; they cannot be singularly incorporated to risk stratify patients. Various clinical risk scores have been proposed to address this challenge for risk stratification in patients being evaluated for suspected ACS. The ideal risk score should demonstrate high sensitivity and specificity to accurately differentiate between patients with varying levels of risk, particularly in identifying those at high risk for major adverse cardiovascular events. Simultaneously, an ideal scoring system should also be able to compute information for other non-coronary etiologies of chest pain that require time-sensitive interventions and workups (eg, aortic dissection and pulmonary embolism). In this review, we have assembled major risk scores used for risk stratification in patients with acute chest pain in ED. We have abbreviated their salient features to assist readers in their clinical decision-making.

In recent years, healthcare systems worldwide have faced the challenge of the severe COVID-19 pandemic. However, cases of severe rhabdomyolysis, acute myocardial damage, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) caused by COVID-19 are currently rare. This report presents a case of severe rhabdomyolysis, acute myocardial damage, and MODS caused by COVID-19. The patient was treated at The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital. The purpose of this report is to aid clinicians in quickly identifying and treating similar cases, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Rabies is a neglected zoonotic disease caused by a virus. It is an acute progressive neurological disease that affects people in many parts of the world, especially in low income countries including Somalia and it is always lethal once symptoms appear without immediate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Nearly half of rabies cases occur in children. This case report presents a tragic and unique clinical scenario involving a 14-year-old boy from a rural area in Somalia who presented to our tertiary hospital after a bite from a honey badger. The patient's younger sister, who was also bitten by the same honey badger, sadly succumbed to the disease two weeks prior. This report aims to contribute to the medical literature by highlighting the challenges faced in diagnosing and managing rabies in resource-constrained settings.

Purpose: Time is critical when dealing with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients in the Emergency Department (ED), as 90 min is crucial for overall health. Using non-EMS transportation for critical patients, such as patients with acute myocardial infarction, to a hospital might delay the rapid identification of the underlying medical disease and initiating definitive treatment. We aim to evaluate the association between the mode of transportation and the D2B time in patients presenting at the ED with AMI.

Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study with patients who presented at ED with AMI and underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The participants were patients with confirmed AMI at the ED of King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) from January 2019 to December 2019.

Results: In total, 162 AMI patients were enrolled in the study and divided based on the method of transportation. Less than half (n=65, 40.1%) were transported with an ambulance and 97 (59.9%) patients with a private car. The door-to-balloon (D2B) time for the ambulance group was 93.6±38.31 minutes, and the private car group was 93.8±30.88 minutes.

Conclusion: There was no statistical significance when comparing the D2B time between the private car group and the ambulance group (P = 0.1870). Finally, ambulance transport significantly shortened the time to first ED physician contact. However, it was not associated with shortened D2B time when compared to private vehicle transport.

Purpose: To examine the validity and predictability of thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) risk and HEART scores in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain in Jordan (representative of the Middle East and North Africa Region, MENA).

Patients and methods: Risk scores were calculated for 237 patients presenting to the ED with chest pain. Patients were followed-up prospectively for the need for percutaneous coronary intervention, major adverse cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality, looking for correlation and accuracy between the predicted cardiovascular risk from TIMI risk score and HEART score and the clinical outcome.

Results: Of the 237 patients, approximately 77% were diagnosed with unstable angina and 23% diagnosed with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). about two thirds of the study population were smokers and known to have hypertension and dyslipidaemia. In 50 patients, the primary outcome (need for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and/or major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) at days 14 and 40, all-cause mortality) was observed. Regarding the predictability of the TIMI score, a larger number of events were observed in the study population than predicted. Patients with TIMI scores of 3 to 5 have about a 5-8% higher event rate than predicted.

Conclusion: Both TIMI and HEART risk scores were able to predict an elevated risk of major cardiovascular adverse events (MACE). The overall impression was that the TIMI risk score tended to underestimate risk in the study population.