Emergency Medicine Alert articles from May 2002

Emergency Medicine Alert archives from May 2002

Predicting morbidity and mortality in asthma. (Abstract & Commentary).(Abstract)
May 1, 2002... THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO MEASURE THE PERCEPTION OF dyspnea (POD) in patients with asthma and to relate POD with life-threatening attacks within a 24-month period of follow-up. The authors hypothesized that low POD would identify...

Cooling after cardiac arrest: conclusively favorable, or equivocally studied? (Abstract & Commentary).(Abstract)
May 1, 2002... Abstract 1 LABORATORY STUDIES SUGGEST THAT HYPOTHERMIA induced shortly after the restoration of spontaneous circulation may improve neurologic outcome. Conclusive human studies are lacking. This study originates in Austria from attempts to...

Evaluation of apparent life-threatening events. (Abstract & Commentary).(Abstract)
May 1, 2002... APPARENT LIFE-THREATENING EVENTS (ALTE) frighten us all. These episodes are defined as alarming events involving apnea, color change, alteration in muscle tone, choking, or gagging. Infants frequently are seen in the emergency department (ED)...

Victims of torso GSW deserve trauma team care. (Abstract & Commentary).(gunshot wounds)(Abstract)
May 1, 2002... THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO VALIDATE recently revised American College of Surgeons standards for trauma team activation. (1) These new criteria add penetrating torso trauma (regardless of field vital signs) to traditionally cited...

Knee extensor mechanism disruptions. (Special Feature).
May 1, 2002... THE EXTENSOR MECHANISM DISRUPTIONS INCLUDE rupture of the quadriceps tendon, patellar fracture, patellar tendon rupture, and tendon avulsion at the tibial tubercle; (1-4) the most commonly encountered form of disruption involves rupture of the...

Physician CME questions.(continuing medical education)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... 36. In two years of follow-up, when compared to asthma patients with normal or high perception of dyspnea, asthma patients with low perception of dyspnea were found to have statistically: a. more ED visits. b. more hospitalizations....

A "sited" tachycardia.
May 1, 2002... Clinical Scenario: The tachycardia shown in the Figure was obtained from an older woman who presented with shortness of breath and a recent history of "irregular heart beat" episodes. The top strip shows the onset of one such episode, and the...