Pulmonary embolism (PE) can be a deadly disease and one of the most challenging diagnosis to make in a pregnant patient. Patients may present with signs and symptoms that might also be present in a normal uncomplicated pregnancy. Even in nonpregnant patients, the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) such as PE can be quite challenging.
Bartholin abscesses are challenging to manage, partly because of Word catheter insertion. Sometimes, the space is not large enough (unable to fit the catheter) or too large (catheter falls out). How else can you “pack” the abscess space?
A 25 year old woman presents to the Emergency Department having syncopized in the waiting room, where she was triaged with the chief complaint of abdominal pain. Ectopic pregnancy immediately bubbles to the top of your differential diagnosis. The patient is too dizzy to walk to the bathroom to give you a urine specimen to check a urine pregnancy test. Plus, she admits that she just urinated in the waiting room bathroom a few minutes ago – so no urine now.
Apply several drops of whole blood (instead of urine) into the pregnancy test cassette. In the photo below, the patient was pregnant with a serum beta-HCG level of 250 mIU/mL whose urine and whole blood qualitative tests were both positive.
Did you know that most urine pregnancy test kits are approved for both urine and serum samples? On a quick Google search, I found that Accutest, Cardinal Health, ICON, OSOM, and Rapid Response all are approved for both. The question is whether this will work for whole blood.
One study 1 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine by Dr. Fromm from Maimonides Medical Center looked at exactly this issue. Whole blood pregnancy test performed extremely well, especially if positive:
In their study, very low beta-HCG values (<159 mIU/mL) occasionally yielded a false negative for whole blood pregnancy tests. The whole blood testing approach missed a total 9 of 425 pregnancies. Interestingly, the urine pregnancy test was also negative in 5 of those 9 and not performed in the other 4.
Believe a positive test. Confirm all tests with a urine qualitative test or quantitative serum beta-HCG.
Another example courtesy of Dr. Joe Habboushe (New York Hospital–Queens of Cornell University) and Dr. Graham Walker (Stanford) 2 :
S = Sample well; T = Test specific (will show bar if +HCG); C = Control (will always have a bar)
Your next patient has heavy dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB). She is tachycardic and pre-syncopal. While you establish an IV, resuscitate her, and wait for the gynaecology team to arrive, is there any trick you can use to stem the bleeding?
Ectopic pregnancies account for as many as 18% of patients who present with first-trimester bleeding or abdominal pain in the Emergency Department. This Paucis Verbis card summarizes the 2008 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) guidelines on the use of methotrexate (MTX) for ectopic pregnancies. Not all ectopic pregnancies require operative management.
What are the indications and contraindications to MTX? When should they follow up with their obstetrician?
Answer: In 4 days for a repeat b-HCG and possible second dose of MTX
Note that one of the eligibility criteria is that the patient must have an “unruptured ectopic pregnancy”. Many would consider that any ultrasonographic evidence of free fluid may be a sign of an early rupture. It is left up to clinician judgment in how “unruptured” is interpreted.
Adapted from [1]
Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.