SAEM Clinical Images Series: Quirky Quincke’s
The patient is a 38-year-old male with no past medical history who presents to the Emergency Department with chief complaint of “swollen uvula” that started 4 hours ago. The patient reports that he woke up this morning with pain in his throat and associated shortness of breath secondary to swelling. States he looked in his mouth in the mirror and saw that his uvula was swollen, prompting his visit to the ED. He states that he took Benadryl and Tylenol at onset of symptoms with no relief. The patient denies fever, [+]
SAEM Clinical Images Series: Pain, Paralysis, and Rash
The patient is an 81-year-old female with a history of asthma and hypertension who presents to the Emergency Department with right-sided abdominal swelling for five days. Five days ago, the right side of her abdomen appeared to protrude more than the left. This protrusion then increased over the next 2-3 days. The patient was diagnosed with shingles to the right lower abdomen earlier that month, but her rash has now nearly resolved. She continues to have “electric” pain in the region of the prior shingles infection. She denies any fevers, abdominal [+]
ACMT Toxicology Visual Pearl – Hidden Danger
This abdominal radiograph indicates what type of activity? Body packing Body pushing Body stuffing Parachuting [Image from Wikimedia Commons] [+]
Mary E. Heslin, MD
Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center
Latest posts by Mary E. Heslin, MD (see all)
SAEM Clinical Images Series: A Pedunculated Bone to Pick
The patient is a 46-year-old male with a past medical history of chronic left knee pain, hypertension, and congestive heart failure who presents to the Emergency Department with worsening left knee pain. He had been walking more frequently of late to increase his exercise, but denies any falls or specific trauma. He noticed some swelling to the area over the past few days but there has been no redness, rash, or fever. He also denies calf pain, lower leg swelling, and shortness of breath. He [+]
SAEM Clinical Images Series: Wake-up Call
The patient is a 53-year-old anuric female with a history of kidney/liver transplant, ESRD on hemodialysis, diabetes mellitus, and atrial fibrillation with recent failed cardioversion who presents to the Emergency Department with one week of worsening generalized weakness. She reports dyspnea on exertion which improves with rest, generalized abdominal pain, and mild vomiting. Her medications include escitalopram 20 mg daily, flecainide 100 mg twice daily, magnesium oxide 400 mg daily, metoprolol 50 mg 3 times daily, pregabalin 50 mg daily, risperidone 0.5 mg twice daily, [+]
SAEM Clinical Images Series: Can I Snooze on This Bruise?
The patient is a 21-month-old male with no medical problems who is brought into the Emergency Department with concerns for bruising of the lower extremities and swelling of feet. His parents noticed the patient was walking differently 4 days ago and then noted bruising and edema of his feet bilaterally. They state there has been no known injury or trauma, and at least one of the parents has been with the child at all times. The bruising has spread and darkened to become widespread on both legs and today they noticed [+]
Procedural Use of a Mini C-arm in the Emergency Department
C-arms are mobile, C-shaped X-ray units that allow dynamic imaging for a wide range of procedures in outpatient clinics, procedure suites, operating rooms, and even emergency departments. Their uses include: fracture reduction and fixation, hardware placement, joint injections, and other image-guided interventional procedures. They are available in a variety of sizes including a mini C-arm that is specifically designed for imaging smaller body parts such as the hands and wrists. Mini C-arms in emergency departments (ED) are not commonplace but when available they are often in trauma centers and most commonly utilized by orthopedic surgeons. Literature on the use [+]
Gamechanger: Do we really need a lumbar puncture for all febrile infants 0-28 days old?
A new international pooled analysis challenges the age-old dogma that all febrile infants 0-28 days require a lumbar puncture (LP). Can the PECARN febrile infant prediction rule safely identify a low-risk subset for invasive bacterial illnesses (bacterial meningitis and bacteremia) [1]?Bottom LineFor more than four decades, the standard of care for febrile infants in the first month of life has been aggressive: full sepsis workup (including an LP), admission, and IV antibiotics. A new study in JAMA suggests this paradigm may be shifting [2, 3].In an international pooled analysis of more than 1,500 febrile infants aged ≤28 days, the updated [+]
SAEM Clinical Images Series: I Cannot Control My Right Side
The patient is a 47-year-old female whose past medical history includes ESRD on dialysis, type 1 diabetes, and hypertension, who presents to the Emergency Department for uncontrollable right-sided movements of her body. The patient states these symptoms have been present for several weeks and have progressively worsened over the past week. She reports difficulty with ambulation secondary to these involuntary movements of the right side of her body. She denies any missed dialysis sessions. She denies fever, headaches, sensory problems, or any [+]
SAEM Clinical Images Series: Ocular Trauma Following Ground Level Fall
The patient is an 82-year-old female who presents to the Emergency Department after an unwitnessed fall from standing approximately 2 hours prior to arrival. The patient states that she thinks she lost her balance and fell, striking her face. She denies loss of consciousness or any antecedent dizziness or presyncopal symptoms, but has limited recollection of the event. At presentation, she reports pain to the left side of the face, a laceration to the left side of her face, and decreased vision in her left eye. She has [+]
Director of Growth, Strategic Alliance Initiative, Center for Innovation and Digital Health
Massachusetts General Hospital;
Chief Scientific Officer, Conductscience.com
Latest posts by Shuhan He, MD (see all)
- The Discharge Severity Index: Early Research on ED Readmission Risk Assessment - August 14, 2025
- Suboxone and the Emergency Physician: Get Waivered Training - August 12, 2022
- A Tale of Two Epidemics: COVID-19 and the Opioid Crisis - April 23, 2020