Author Affiliation Erik S. Anderson, MD Alameda County Medical Center, Highland Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oakland, California Andrew A. Herring, MD Alameda County Medical Center, Highland Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oakland, California Caitlin Bailey, MD Alameda County Medical Center, Highland Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oakland, California Daniel Mantuani, MD Alameda County Medical […]
A 57-year-old man presented to our emergency department with altered mental status. He had a past medical history significant for cirrhosis and previous placement of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). On cardiac auscultation, a new heart murmur and an unexpected degree of cardiac ectopy were noted. On the 12-lead electrocardiogram, the patient was…
Patients suffering from severe orbital trauma are at risk for numerous complications, including orbital compartment syndromes. This can result in an afferent pupillary defect, which must be evaluated for on physical examination. Unfortunately, these at-risk patients are often challenging to examine properly due to surrounding edema. Point-of-care ultrasonography can be used as an adjunct to the standard examination in this situation.
Approximately 1% of all emergency department (ED) visits are for treatment of urinary tract stone disease (renal colic, kidney stones, urolithiasis). Renal colic is a common condition affecting approximately 7–13% of the population during their lifetime and those who are afflicted are likely to have recurrent attacks throughout their lives. Through the following case series, we present sonographic bladder wall findings in patients with renal colic.
A 63-year-old female with pulmonary hypertension presented to the emergency department (ED) with hemoptysis. Vital signs were significant for tachypnea, with respirations of 30 per minute, and hypoxia, with an oxygen saturation of 88%. Physical examination revealed a …
A 35-year-old man presented to the emergency department (ED) for acute urinary retention and penile pain for 4 hours. The patient denied any significant medical history or history of trauma. Physical exam revealed testicles that were nontender, without masses. However,…
Introduction: The incidence of emergency department (ED) visits for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in the United States exceeds 1,000,000 cases/year with the vast majority classified as mild (mTBI). Using existing computed tomography (CT) decision rules for selecting patients to be referred for CT, such as the New Orleans Criteria (NOC), approximately 70% of those scanned are found to have a negative CT. This study investigates the use of quantified brain electrical activity to assess its possible role in the initial screening of ED mTBI patients as compared to NOC.
Conclusion: The hand-held EEG device with a limited frontal montage is applicable to the ED environment and its performance was superior to that obtained using the New Orleans criteria. This study suggests a possible role for an index of brain function based on EEG to aid in the acute assessment of mTBI patients.
