A 43-year-old man presented to the emergency department after he was swimming in the ocean and felt a sudden sting followed by a burning pain and muscle spasms in his right hand.
Can we define a group of pit viper victims who are at low risk for hematologic venom effects (fibrinogen degradation and/or platelet destruction) and spare these patients the time and expense of serial laboratory testing?
Acute complications from cocaine abuse are commonly treated in the emergency department (ED); one of the most consequential is status epilepticus. The incidence of this complication is not clearly defined in the prior literature on cocaine-associated sequelae. We evaluated the incidence of status epilepticus in patients with seizures secondary to suspected cocaine use.
