Warfarin is one of those drugs that always sends off little red warning lights when I see it on a patient’s medication list. Am I going to do something that will make this patient bleed out? Which drugs interact with warfarin?
In patients undergoing emergent tracheal intubation, there is currently no universally accepted gold-standard test to confirm the location of the endotracheal tube (ETT).1 End-tidal carbon dioxide (CO2) detection is the best of the tests that are routinely utilized to confirm ETT placement, however, it has been shown to have an error rate as high as 1/10 for proper determination of ETT location in emergency intubations.2 As a result, multiple modalities are necessary to confirm ETT location, which can delay mechanical ventilation and other treatments. The lack of a single, reliable test to confirm ETT placement can potentially lead to confusion regarding the location of the tube. This confusion can result in both unrecognized esophageal intubations (“false positive”), as well as successful tracheal intubations that are subsequently removed (“false negative”), subjecting the patient to further unnecessary attempts at airway management. Both scenarios can lead to disastrous consequences.
Welcome to another ultrasound-based case, part of the “Ultrasound For The Win!” (#US4TW) Case Series. In this peer-reviewed case series, we focus on a real clinical case where bedside ultrasound changed the management or aided in the diagnosis. In this case, a 46-year-old woman presents with acute right-sided abdominal and flank pain.
Malignancy-associated hypercalcemia (MAH) is the most common metabolic derangement encountered in the oncologic population in the ED. It can occur in up to 30% of cancer patients at some point during the disease.1–3 Clinical manifestations include mental status changes (which may progress to coma) and renal impairment.3 These patients may be classified based on both type and severity. Therapies for managing MAH emergently should focus on correcting the underlying mechanism, as outlined below with their respective causes:3
Welcome to another ultrasound-based case, part of the “Ultrasound For The Win” (#US4TW) Case Series. In this peer-reviewed case series, we focus on real clinical cases where bedside ultrasound changed management or aided in diagnoses. In this case, a 22-year-old man presents with acute scrotal pain.
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Anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis is a severe and treatable immune-mediated disorder which presents with a rapid progression of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Although only first reported as a diagnosis in 2007, an exponential number of cases have since been described, suggesting that the disease is not rare but rather under-diagnosed. Emergency physicians play an important role in recognizing this disorder, as prognosis is largely dependent on early treatment with immunotherapy.
A patient comes into the ED and you suspect septic arthritis to the knee. As you consent the patient for arthrocentesis, you can tell s/he has reservations about a needle being inserted into their knee and left in place while you aspirate. You also think in the back of your mind how tricky it is to sometimes change syringes while keeping the needle in the correct location. Is there another way of tapping the knee without a needle?