Background: Anyone who has run a code, knows that pulseless electrical activity (PEA) during cardiac arrest has a worse prognosis compared to patients with shockable rhythms. In patients with suspected massive PE as the cause of their cardiac arrest the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines do recommend consideration of […]
Background: The care of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is currently undergoing a paradigm shift in the US with an increasingly large percentage of patients being discharged home from the Emergency Department (ED). It wasn’t too long ago that all patients diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) would be admitted for anticoagulation. Some […]
Submassive pulmonary embolism (PE) is responsible for approximately 20% of all PEs. Although the in-hospital mortality has been reported as about 5%, there is significant morbidity associated with this diagnosis such as chronic pulmonary hypertension, impaired quality of life, persistent right ventricular disfunction, and recurrent venous thromboembolism. The literature suggests that systemic thrombolytics can improve […]
Background: Syncope is a very frustrating chief complaint for many in the medical field. There is no gold standard test and no validated decision instrument. It represents about 3 – 5% of ED visits, 1 – 6% of hospital admissions, and in patients over the age of 65 years it is the 6th most common […]
This years ACEP 2016 conference took place in Las Vegas, NV from Oct 16th – 19th. There was greater than 350 courses, labs, and workshops given throughout the week. It was impossible to make all of these great lectures, but I was able to take away some very important clinical pearls that I wanted to […]
