Emergency Medicine Alert articles from January 2005

Emergency Medicine Alert archives from January 2005

Update on characteristics and prognosis in bacterial meningitis.(Abstract & Commentary)
January 1, 2005... THIS PROSPECTIVE STUDY FROM THE NETHERLANDS EVALUATED 696 episodes of community-acquired acute bacterial meningitis from October 1998 to April 2002. The diagnosis was confirmed by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures, and all patients underwent a...

Painless aortic dissection.(Abstract & Commentary)
January 1, 2005... ALTHOUGH PAINLESS ACUTE AORTIC DISSECTION (AAD) has been described, there has been no systematic study of this condition. Park and colleagues from the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection assessed the clinical characteristics and...

Steroid infusion may be harmful in acute head injury.(Abstract & Commentary)
January 1, 2005... A TOTAL OF 10,008 ADULTS WITH CLINICALLY SIGNIFicant head injury were randomized to receive either a 48-hour infusion of methylprednisolone or placebo in this multicenter international trial. Inclusion criteria included age 16 or older and a...

The effect of ethnicity/race on time to reperfusion in acute MI.(Abstract & Commentary)
January 1, 2005... A NUMBER OF RECENT STUDIES HAVE BEGUN TO reveal racial disparity in the way certain patient populations are treated. In a recent New England Journal of Medicine study, researchers (1) reported that physicians treating African-American patients...

Achilles tendon rupture.(Special Feature)
January 1, 2005... Introduction ACHILLES (CALCANEAL) TENDON RUPTURE IS A CONdition that predominantly affects middle-aged men who sporadically participate in recreational sports. The diagnosis is frequently obvious, but may present in a manner similar to the...

Physician CME questions.
January 1, 2005... 5. In the CRASH trial, where a total of 10,008 adults with clinically significant head injury were randomized to receive either a 48-hour infusion of methylprednisolone or placebo, the following results were found at two weeks: a. The risk...

Concealing the cause.(ECG Review)
January 1, 2005... Clinical Scenario: The 12-lead electrocardiogram and accompanying rhythm strip in the Figure were obtained from an asymptomatic and otherwise healthy 53-year-old man. What two things are unusual about the beat marked X? Did first-degree AV...