Clinical Scoring Systems in Predicting the Outcome of Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding; a Narrative Review.

Prediction of the outcome and severity of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) has significant importance in patient care, disposition, and determining the need for emergent endoscopy. Recent international recommendations endorse using scoring systems for management of non-variceal UGIB patients. To date, different scoring systems have been developed for predicting the risk of 30-day mortality and re-bleeding. We have discussed the screening performance characteristics of Baylor bleeding score, the Rockall risk scoring score, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center predictive index, Glasgow Blatchford score, T-score, and AIMS65 systems, in the present review. Based on the results of this survey, there are only 3 clinical decision rules that can predict the outcome of UGIB patients, independent from endoscopy. Among these, only Glasgow Blatchford score was highly sensitive for predicting the risk of 30-day mortality and re-bleeding, simultaneously.

Battered Child Syndrome; a Case Study.

One of the important and usual missed causes of pediatric traumas is child abuse. This ominous phenomenon, which can be presented physically, psychologically, sexually, and emotionally has grown significantly in recent years. Many children are not diagnosed in the early stages of evaluation. Battered Child Syndrome is used to describe the clinical condition of the child serious physical abuse by parents or caregivers. Medical staff should always keep the syndrome in their mind for those brought to the emergency department with trauma. In this report, we described a patient complained of dysphagia following a falling from a height and multiple epidural hematomas and final diagnosis of battered child syndrome.

Acute hepatorenal failure in a patient following consumption of mushrooms: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: One of the highly toxic mushrooms that are common in the northwest region of Iran is Amanita phalloides, which might result in renal or liver failure. CASE PRESENTATION: This is a case report of a patient referred a few days after consumption of wild mushrooms to emergency department having gastrointestinal complaint whose experiments indicated liver and renal failure. The supportive treatment was given to the patient prescribing N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and Livergol (silymarin) along with hemodialysis. A few days after admission to the hospital, the patient died due to severe clinical symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The patient was poisoned by A. phalloides complaining gastrointestinal symptoms including nausea; vomiting and watery diarrhea about six hours after consumption and then, amatoxin in the mushroom caused damage to hepatocytes and renal cells and finally led to hepatorenal failure. Deaths caused by this type of mushroom are extremely high and necessary trainings should be provided to the people by the health system not to consume wild mushrooms, especially in spring and summer.

Therapeutic approaches for renal colic in the emergency department: a review article.

CONTEXT: Renal colic is frequently described as the worst pain ever experienced, and management of this intense pain is necessary. The object of our review was to discuss different approaches of pain control for patients with acute renal colic in the emergency department. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Studies that discussed the treatment of renal colic pain were included in this review. We collected articles from reputable internet databases. RESULTS: Our study showed that some new treatment approaches, such as the use of lidocaine or nerve blocks, can be used to control the severe and persistent pain of renal colic. CONCLUSIONS: Some new approaches are discussed and their impact on renal colic pain control was compared with traditional therapies. The effectiveness of the new approaches in this review is similar or even better than in traditional treatments.

Comparison between the effects of alfentanil, fentanyl and sufentanil on hemodynamic indices during rapid sequence intubation in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation lead to the alteration of hemodynamic parameters, including blood pressure and heart rate, in traumatic patients who sustain rapid sequence intubation (RSI). Various drugs such as fentanyl, alfentanil and sufentanil have been used to modify these hemodynamic responses. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study is to compare the effects of fentanyl, sufentanil and alfentanil in trauma patients who require RSI in the emergency department (ED). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a randomized double-blinded study conducted on 90 patients (18-65 years old, ASA I, II), who needed intubation following trauma. The patients were randomly divided into three groups, Group I, Group II and Group III, who have received alfentanil, fentanyl and sufentanil, respectively. Heart rate, blood pressure, saturation of peripheral oxygen and end-tidal carbon dioxide were measured 5 minutes before and 3, 5 and 10 minutes after intubation, respectively. The changes of the hemodynamic parameters were compared in between groups. Data were analyzed by One-way ANOVA, General Linear Model Repeated Measure and Mauchly's Sphericity Test. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: There was no significant statistical difference among groups with respect to hemodynamic parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Alfentanil, fentanyl and sufentanil can be used safely as premedication drugs for trauma patients who need intubation.

A Young Man with Myocardial Infarction due to Trenbolone Acetate; a Case Report.

Over the four decades, a significant decrease has been observed in age-related mortality caused by cardiovascular disease. People in developing countries suffer from CAD at a relatively younger age and about half of MI occurs under the age of fifty years. Abuse of anabolic steroids is one of the less common causes of atherosclerosis. In this report, a 23-year-old body builder male referred to emergency department (ED) with myocardial infarction (MI) following chronic Trenbolone acetate consumption. It seems that a comprehensive history of steroid consumption in young patients referred to ED with the chief complaint of chest pain or its equivalents is necessary in adjunct to other cardiac risk factors.

Epidural Hematoma Following Hemodialysis in a Methanol Poisoned Patient; a Case Report.

Brain injury associated with methanol toxicity can be ischemic, necrotic or hemorrhagic in nature. It most commonly affects the putamen area bilaterally; however, it can be seen in other locations. This report describes a 22-year-old intoxicated patient who developed an epidural hematoma following hemodialysis. Heparinization during hemodialysis may contribute to cerebral hemorrhagic complications in methanol poisoning. In addition, a history of head trauma may raise the incidence of post-hemodialysis hemorrhagic brain insults. Heparin-free dialysis or peritoneal dialysis can be a good option in these cases.

Poisonous Spiders: Bites, Symptoms, and Treatment; an Educational Review.

More than 40,000 species of spiders have been identified in the world. Spider bites is a common problem among people, however few of them are harmful but delay in treatment can cause death. Since the spider bites are risk full to human, they should be taken seriously, especially in endemic areas. Our objective in this review was to study about poisonous spiders and find out treatments of them. Therefore, we collected related articles from PubMed database and Google Scholar. Three important syndromes caused by spider bites are loxoscelism, latrodectism and funnel web spider syndrome. Many treatments are used but much more studies should have done to decrease the mortality. In this review, we describes different venomous spiders according to their appearance, symptoms after their bites and available treatments.

Transient Unexplained Shock in 30-year-old Trauma Patient.

Shock as an inadequate tissue perfusion is one of the frequent causes of death in trauma patients. In this context, there are various reasons for hemodynamic instability and shock including hypovolemic (hemorrhagic), obstructive (cardiac tamponade, tension pneumothorax), cardiogenic, neurogenic, and rarely septic. In the present report, a 30-year-old trauma patient with full clinical signs and symptoms of shock referred while had unknown origin; it was finally recognized as anaphylactic shock.

Can APACHE II Score Predict Diabetic Ketoacidosis in Hyperglycemic Patients Presenting to Emergency Department?

BACKGROUND: Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is an acute and life-threatening complication in diabetic patients. The current diagnostic criteria of DKA are metabolic acidosis, blood glucose level greater than 250 mg/dL and the presence of ketones in serum or urine. DKA patients referring to the emergency department (ED) are usually ill. OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring in predicting the critically illness in the hyperglycemic patients referring to the ED. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective cohort study in an ED. One hundred eighty one patients older than 18 years with hyperglycemia were included in our study. Following the primary evaluation, the subjects were divided into DKA and non-DKA patients. APACHE II scores were calculated for all patients and then compared to each other. We determined predictive value, sensitivity, specificity and cut-off points of APACHE II score for DKA. RESULTS: Sixty two patients had DKA. The comparison of APACHE II score among two groups of the patients did not show any significant difference (P = 0.597). There was no suitable cut-off point for APACHE II score to predict DKA. CONCLUSIONS: APACHE II score cannot be applied in the predicting of DKA in hyperglycemic patients admitted in ED.