Emergency Medicine Alert articles from January 2002

Emergency Medicine Alert archives from January 2002

Does your pediatric patient have pneumonia? (Abstract & Commentary).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... IT IS DIFFICULT TO PREDICT THE PRESENCE OF PNEUMONIA IN SICK children with respiratory symptoms in the emergency department (ED). While numerous criteria for signs and symptoms abound in the literature, controversy remains about when to obtain...

A device for the difficult airway. (Abstract & Commentary).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... THE AUTHORS OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE CASE SERIES reviewed the records of patients with difficult airways in whom the LMA-Fastrach[TM] was used electively or emergently at four institutions from October 1997 through October 2000. All patients had...

Vasoocclusive crisis of sickle cell anemia: a new therapy. (Abstract & Commentary).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... PURIFIED POLOXAMER 188 (PP188) IS A NONIONIC surfactant with properties that are thought to improve microvascular flow by reducing whole blood viscosity, erythrocyte aggregation, and adhesion to the vascular endothelium. The investigators of...

Droperidol vs. prochlorperazine for benign headache. (Abstract & Commentary).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... MANY EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS MERELY CLASSIFY the undifferentiated headache, a common emergency department (ED) complaint, as either serious or benign, with the great majority being considered benign. This study compared the efficacy of droperidol...

Scapholunate dissociation. (Special Feature).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... SCAPHOLUNATE DISSOCIATION RAPIDLY IS BECOMING the most common form of carpal instability. Despite the literature supporting the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, this problem is not often recognized on initial presentation. With the...

CME questions.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... 7. The best clinical predictor of radiographically confirmed pneumonia in an ill child younger than age 5 is: a. cough. b. respiratory distress. c. purulent nasal discharge. d. tachycardia. 8. The laryngeal mask airway...

LBBB -- and what else unusual? (ECG Review).(left bundle-branch block)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Clinical Scenario: The ECG shown in the Figure was obtained from a 92-year-old man with known left bundle-branch block (LBBB), coronary disease, and renal failure. Can you identify at least three unusual features about this ECG and the LBBB...