Emergency Medicine Alert articles from March 2003

Emergency Medicine Alert archives from March 2003

Diagnostic strategies based upon outcome data in pulmonary embolism. (Abstract & Commentary).
March 1, 2003... THIS PROSPECTIVE, MULTICENTER, OUTCOME STUDY WAS designed to evaluate a diagnostic strategy based on clinical pretest probability, spiral computed tomography (CT), and venous compression ultrasonography (US) of the legs in patients with...

West Nile Virus: sound the alarm from coast to coast. (Abstract & Commentary).
March 1, 2003... WEST NILE VIRUS (WNV) ERUPTED UNEXPECTEDLY in the United States in 1999 with an outbreak among residents of New York City. Intense and systematic clinical, epidemiologic, and public health investigation followed, and publication of the analysis...

Coronary angiography and cocaine-associated chest pain. (Abstract & Commentary).
March 1, 2003... WHETHER CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY IS INDICATED in patients with cocaine-associated myocardial infarction (MI), let alone chest pain, is not clear. This paper from the Medical College of Virginia examined the issue, using primarily prospective...

The electrocardiogram in Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome: Part II: the arrhythmias. (Special Feature).
March 1, 2003... WOLFF-PARKINSON-WHITE SYNDROME (WPW) is a well-described form of ventricular pre-excitation. In 1930, Wolff, Parkinson, and White described the "combination of bundle branch block, abnormally short PR interval, and paroxysms of tachycardia...

Physician CME questions.
March 1, 2003... Emergency Medicine Alert is changing its testing procedure. At the conclusion of the semester (with issue No. 12, May 2003), you will not need to return a Scantron answer sheet to earn credit for the activity. Please review the text, answer the...

An athletic ECG. (ECG Review).
March 1, 2003... Clinical Scenario: The 12-lead ECG shown in the Figure was obtained from a 21-year-old, endurance-sport, male athlete. What important cardiac abnormality might be present? What else might this ECG be reflective of? Interpretation: The ECG...