4 Feb 2016

February 4, 2016

Written by REBEL EM
Background: The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most useful diagnostic studies for identification of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The classic teaching is ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is defined as symptoms consistent with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) + new ST-segment elevation at the J point in at least 2 anatomically contiguous leads of at least 2mm (0.2mV) in men or at least 1.5mm in women in leads V2 – V3 and/or at least 1mm (0.1mV) in other contiguous leads or the limb leads, in the absence of a left bundle branch block, left ventricular hypertrophy, or other non-acute MI ST-segment elevation presentations. Unfortunately, the ECG may be non-diagnostic in nearly half of all patients who initially present with AMI. There are also STEMI equivalent patterns that are caused by occlusion of the coronary arteries that place a significant portion of the left ventricle at jeopardy and result in poor outcomes. This review article focused on 5 under recognized high-risk ECG patterns in the ACS patient that result in poor outcomes including malignant dysrhythmias, higher rates of cardiogenic shock, and death.
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular
7 Likes
21 Jan 2016

January 21, 2016

Written by REBEL Crit
One of the major reasons contributing to dismal survival rates in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is the lack of bystander initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Even though the majority of OHCA is witnessed, only 1 in 5 patients will receive bystander initiated CPR [1].  Survey studies have shown that bystanders are not wanting to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on strangers. Outside of early defibrillation, only early bystander initiated CPR has consistently been shown to improve neurologically intact survival in OHCA. So what about  Cardiocerebral Resuscitation, also known as "Hands-Only" CPR?
Medical Categories: Resuscitation
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11 Jan 2016

January 11, 2016

Written by REBEL EM
Background: Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB) on the ECG makes accurate recognition of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) rather difficult. The 1996 and 2004 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) STEMI guidelines recommended immediate reperfusion therapy for patients with potentially ischemic symptoms and new, or presumed new, LBBB. In 2013, this recommendation was removed from the guidelines. Historically, reperfusion decisions in LBBB have been determined by the original Sgarbossa criteria published in 1996, but there are three key limitations to the original study by Sgarbossa et al:
  1. The original Sgarbossa criteria (i.e. the “weighted” Sgarbossa criteria) depends on a point system that rely on 3 findings, only 2 of which would provide enough points (i.e. 3) to make the diagnosis of AMI. Using the Sgarbossa criteria without the point system (i.e. the “unweighted” Sgarbossa criteria) increases sensitivity but decreases specificity.
  2. Sgarbossa et al diagnosed AMI by creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) elevations instead of angiographic evidence of acute coronary occlusion (ACO), which limits the sensitivity of the rule because it combines NSTEMI and STEMI patients in the outcome definition
  3. Finally, Sgarbossa et al used an absolute criterion (5mm) rather than a proportional criterion for excessively discordant ST elevation lowering the sensitivity of the criteria.
The modified Sgarbossa criteria replaces the absolute 5mm discordant ST elevation with a proportion (ST elevation/S-wave amplitude ≤ -0.25). In other words, the modified Sgarbossa criteria only changes the last of the original Sgarbossa criteria with the first two criteria staying intact. Now, if any of these criteria are met, the cardiac catheterization lab should be activated. We have written on REBEL EM before about the modified Sgarbossa criteria and one of our conclusions was this rule looked very promising, but needed an external validation study. Well that study is now here and for full disclosure I am one of the authors on the paper.
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular
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7 Jan 2016

January 7, 2016

Written by REBEL EM
Background: The traditional standard workup for ruling out subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been a non-contrast head CT and, if negative, a lumbar puncture. The thought behind this is that the sensitivity of head CT to rule out SAH is not 100% and declines over time and missing a SAH is potentially devastating. There has been a series of studies published in the past few years looking at the value of a negative head CT scan performed within 6 hours of headache onset in ruling out SAH. I have heard many say that if they have a negative Head CT at 6 hours or less in a neurologically intact patient they would not perform a lumbar puncture.
Medical Categories: Neurology
1 Like
10 Dec 2015

December 10, 2015

Written by REBEL Cast
Welcome to the December 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics in the world of Cardiology and Critical Care. First of all, we all know that the optimal treatment for STEMI is getting the patient to the cardiac catheterization lab, and time is muscle, but does it help to get patients to the catheterization lab even faster than 90 minutes? Or does speeding up the time have bad outcomes? Secondly, it has been drilled into our heads that high-quality CPR with minimal to no interruptions is key in OHCA.  This gives our patients the best chance of neurologically intact survival.  But a new study just published might beg to differ. So with that introduction today we are going to specifically tackle:

Topic #1: Reducing Door to Balloon (D2B) Times to <90 Minutes in STEMI Topic #2: Continuous vs Interrupted CPR in OHCA

Medical Categories: Cardiovascular, Resuscitation
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