26 Mar 2020

March 26, 2020

Written by REBEL Crit
Background Information: Refractory ventricular fibrillation (RVF) is a complication of cardiac arrest defined as ventricular fibrillation (VF) that does not respond to three or more standard defibrillation attempts.1,2 Patients with RVF during their cardiac arrest have a mortality of up to 97%.3,4 Double external defibrillation (DED) involves the use of a second defibrillator providing an additional shock in a sequential or simultaneous manner. The left ventricle (LV), being the most posterior part of the heart and the furthest away from the anterolateral electrode pads, have led some to hypothesize that utilizing an anterior-posterior pad placement (ie. Changing the vector) is what accounts for DED’s success. Some theorize that the increase in amount of energy from two defibrillations as opposed to one is what’s needed to reach the LV. There are also theories suggesting that the sequential administration of the shocks, more effectively lowers the defibrillation threshold of the cardiac myocytes and thus leads to a more successful conversion of VF. In spite of these many theories, the intervention of DED has been studied for decades in the electrophysiology lab and widely discussed in the literature through case reports and meta-reviews. These case reports have shown success and a recent meta-review of 39 patients who received DED showed that 25% of them were discharged neurologically intact with Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) scores of 2 or less indicating normal recovery/mild disability or moderate disability but able to independently perform activities of daily living.5-10 While this literature is promising, DED is a highly variable intervention and there are still many unknown factors which continue to cause debate and controversy. The role of vector direction via pad placement, the role of a pulse interval in energy deliverance and the efficacy in method of delivering DED sequentially vs simultaneously continues to remain unclear. 6-11 The authors of this pilot RCT (DOSE VF) wished to answer some of these questions by first determining the feasibility and safety of performing a full RCT.  In doing so, they used alternate defibrillation strategies such as vector changes and double external sequential defibrillation (DSED) in treating RVF.12
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular, Resuscitation
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11 Mar 2020

March 11, 2020

Written by REBEL Cast, REBEL Core
Vascular Disasters Take Home Points
  1. Consider vascular pathologies in all of your patients with atraumatic limb pain - especially those with typical and atypical risk factors
  2. Early diagnosis is imperative. Time is tissue. Catch this as early as possible. Pain is the earliest symptom. First presents with pain then paresthesia then paralysis
  3. Perform vascular exam on every patient with pain
  4. If concerned for ischemic limb, call the vascular surgeon and get patient to CT for imaging of aorta and affected limb. 
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular
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12 Feb 2020

February 12, 2020

Written by REBEL Cast, REBEL Core
Take-Home Points
  1. Endocarditis can have vague and varied presentations and has high morbidity and mortality. Be on the lookout in patients with risk factors including: 
    1. Congenital heart disease
    2. Cardiac prosthesis or devices
    3. Immunocompromise
    4. IV drug use
    5. Recent invasive procedure
    6. Hx of prior IE
  2. Patients may present with fever, sepsis of unclear source or may have manifestations of emboli to the skin, eyes, brain, lungs, spleen or kidney.
  3. Diagnosis is based on the modified Duke Criteria and workup should include THREE good sets of blood cultures. 
  4. ED management includes consultation with ID and cardiothoracic surgery and starting antibiotics based on whether the patient has a native or prosthetic valve. Basic starting antibiotic regimen includes:
    1. For patients with native valve disease a good starting regimen is:
      1. Vancomycin 25-30 mg/kg IV loading dose followed by 15-20 mg/kg twice daily AND
      2. Cefepime 2 g IV TID
    2. For patients with prosthetic valve disease, we have to go a bit bigger:
      1. Vancomycin 25-30 mg/kg IV loading dose followed by 15-20 mg/kg IV twice daily AND
      2. Rifampin 300 mg PO/IV TID AND
      3. Gentamicin 1 mg/kg IV TID AND
      4. Some recommendations include the Cefepime 2 g IV TID
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease
2 Likes
16 Dec 2019

December 16, 2019

Written by REBEL EM

Background: The clinical diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) can be challenging given its variable presentation, thus requiring dependence on objective testing. decision instruments such as PERC and the Wells’ score help stratify patients to low or high probability, enabling focused use of CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) for diagnosis. However, despite these algorithms, there is evidence of increasing use of CTPA along with diminishing diagnostic rates (less than 10%). This combination results in the overdiagnosis of subsegmental PEs, unnecessary exposure to radiation and false positive results.

Though the D-dimer test has long been maligned for its low specificity the real issues around it rest in indiscriminate use and threshold value. In recent years, age-adjustment of the D-dimer and the YEARS algorithm have attempted to adjust the threshold in order to “rule-out” more patients without advanced imaging. The YEARS creates a two-tiered D-dimer threshold by first asking three questions:

  1. Are there clinical signs of DVT?
  2. Does the patient have hemoptysis? and
  3. Is PE the most likely diagnosis.

If the answer to all 3 questions is no, the D-dimer threshold is set at 1000 ng/mL FEU (500 ng/mL DDU) and if the answer is “yes” to any of the 3 questions, the D-dimer threshold is set at 500 ng/mL FEU (250 ng/mL DDU). More recently, the YEARS algorithm has been assessed in pregnancy.

Age-adjustment of the D-dimer assay simply multiplies 10 X the patients age (if using FEU and 5 X age if using DDU) and uses this number as the threshold for the test. This adjustment is applied to patients > 50 years of age. Age-adjustment of the D-dimer was endorsed by an ACEP clinical policy in 2018.

The PEGeD study is another attempt to show the safety of using an adjusted D-dimer threshold.

Medical Categories: Cardiovascular
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12 Dec 2019

December 12, 2019

Written by REBEL Crit
Background: The 2015 American Heart Association guidelines for Adult Advanced Cardiac Life Support recommend adenosine in non-hypotensive patients in regular narrow-complex supraventricular tachycardia (SVT).  Adenosine has a rapid onset and a half-life that is <10 seconds, which makes it an ideal agent for hemodynamically stable SVT. Typically, adenosine is administered as an initial 6mg rapid IV bolus over 1 – 2 seconds followed by a rapid 10 – 20mL saline flush.  If SVT is not terminated and normal sinus rhythm maintained within 1 – 2 minutes, a repeat dose of 12mg is given followed by a 10 – 20mL saline flush, and this can be repeated for a total of 3 doses. Because of the short half-life of adenosine, several advocate for a two-way stopcock, where adenosine and a 10 – 20mL saline flush are given in tandem. The logistics and timing with using a two way stopcock can be challenging and can result in less rapid flush than intended.
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular
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