Interrater reliability of emergency physician-performed ultrasonography for diagnosing femoral, popliteal, and great saphenous vein thromboses compared to the criterion standard study by radiology.

PURPOSE: To assess the interrater reliability and test characteristics of lower limb sonographic examination for the diagnosis of deep venous and proximal great saphenous vein thrombosis when performed by Emergency Physicians (EPs) as compared to that by the Department of Radiology (Radiology). The secondary objective was to assess the effects of patient body mass index and EP satisfaction with bedside ultrasound on sensitivity and specificity. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted for patients with clinical suspicion for lower extremity thrombus. EPs evaluated for venous thrombosis in the common femoral vein, femoral vein of the thigh, popliteal vein, and proximal great saphenous vein. Subsequently, all patients received ultrasounds by Radiology, the criterion standard. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-seven patients (257 individual legs) were evaluated. There was 90-95% agreement between EP and Radiology, moderate kappa agreement for common femoral vein, and femoral vein of the thigh and fair kappa agreement for great saphenous vein and popliteal vein. The sensitivity and specificity of EP ultrasounds compared with criterion standard were lower than previously reported. There was no trend in patient body mass index or provider satisfaction influencing the test characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that point-of-care sonography should not replace Radiology-performed scans. The required amount of training for EPs to be competent in this examination needs further investigation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 44:360-367, 2016.

Relationship between premature ventricular complexes and depressive symptoms in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome.

AIMS: Depression is a recognized risk marker for mortality among acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. We hypothesized that ventricular arrhythmia detected by inpatient telemetry monitoring is more frequent among ACS patients with elevated depressive symptoms compared to those without depressive symptoms. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analysed data from patients enrolled in a prospective observational study of depression in ACS. Telemetry recordings during the index admission (average recording 21.3±3.0 hours) were analysed for frequent premature ventricular complexes (PVCs), defined as ≥10 per hour. The self-report Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depressive symptoms. Among 200 ACS patients, frequent PVCs were observed in 29% of patients with moderate depressive symptoms (BDI ≥10), 27% of those with mild symptoms (BDI 5-9), and only 11% of those with no/minimal symptoms (p=0.02). Log-transformed PVCs per hour were associated with depressive symptom category (p=0.008). In a multivariable logistic regression model that included age, gender, left ventricular ejection fraction, cardiovascular risk score, heart rate, and QT interval, mild symptoms (OR 3.02, 95% 0.97-9.43, p=0.058) and moderate-severe symptoms (OR 3.94, 95% CI 1.27-12.22, p=0.018) were associated with frequent PVCs. CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of ACS patients, depressive symptoms were independently associated with frequent PVCs during inpatient telemetry monitoring.

A real-time screening alert improves patient recruitment efficiency.

The scarcity of cost-effective patient identification methods represents a significant barrier to clinical research. Research recruitment alerts have been designed to facilitate physician referrals but limited support is available to clinical researchers. We conducted a retrospective data analysis to evaluate the efficacy of a real-time patient identification alert delivered to clinical research coordinators recruiting for a clinical prospective cohort study. Data from log analysis and informal interviews with coordinators were triangulated. Over a 12-month period, 11,295 were screened electronically, 1,449 were interviewed, and 282 were enrolled. The enrollment rates for the alert and two other conventional methods were 4.65%, 2.01%, and 1.34% respectively. A taxonomy of eligibility status was proposed to precisely categorize research patients. Practical ineligibility factors were identified and their correlation with age and gender were analyzed. We conclude that the automatic prescreening alert improves screening efficiency and is an effective aid to clinical research coordinators.

Efecto de la vagotomía asociada a cirugía antirreflujo sobre la secreción gástrica de ácido en pacientes con reflujo gastroesofágico patológico / Effect fo the super selective vagotomy associated to antireflux surgery on acid gastric secretion in patients with pathologic gastroesophageal reflux

Se estudió la secreción gástrica basal (BAO) y la secreción gástrica máxima estimulada (PAO) en 3 grupos de pacientes con reflujo GE crónico sometidos a cirugía. a) 18 casos con calibración cardial y gastropexia posterior, asociado a vagotomía suprasectiva; b) 22 casos sometidos a switch duodenal y vagotomía supraselectiva y, c) 23 casos con vagotomía y gastrectomía parcial, 11 de ellos analizados 8 a 10 años después de la cirugía. La secreción ácida basal (BAO) se redujo en cerca de 60 por ciento en los pacientes sometidos a vagotomía supraselectiva y en 96 por ciento después de vagotomía-gastrectomía. La secrección máxima (PAO) se redujo en 50 por ciento en los casos con vagotomía supraselectiva y en 89 por ciento después de vagotomía-gastrectomía. Estos resultados explican en parte la alta recurrencia del reflujo ácido en pacientes con esófago de Barrett sometidos a cirugía antirreflujo con vagotomía supraselectiva. Por el contrario, después de vagotomía-gastrectomía, esta recurrencia es muy baja