Spinal Cord Compression Secondary to a Spontaneous Cervical Epidural Haematoma.

We report the case of an 86-year-old female patient with chronic neck pain who presented with an initial misleading clinical picture suggesting an ischaemic stroke. No recent or previous anticoagulation treatment or fall history was reported. The patient developed a paraplegia of the upper limbs needing magnetic resonance imaging which revealed a compressive cervical haematoma. The patient benefitted from cervical laminectomy and evacuation of the cervical haematoma. Motricity in upper extremities was recovered but paresis in the lower extremities persisted 1 week after surgical intervention. LEARNING POINTS: Insidious spontaneous cervical haematoma can mimic ischaemic stroke.Early recognition and treatment of cervical haematoma can improve prognosis.

'Adequacy between medical prescription and intake of analgesics for acute low back and neck pain after presentation at the emergency department - do we prescribe too many tablets?'

OBJECTIVES: Acute low back and neck pain account for 3% to 6% of emergency room consultations. In Europe, analgesic prescriptions are issued in boxes. This study, therefore, aims to assess whether this type of packaging is adapted to the real needs of patients. METHODS: This is a prospective observational multicenter study. Out of a total of 101 eligible patients who consulted the emergency department with acute low back or neck pain of muscular origin, 60 patients were included for statistical analysis. Follow-up was conducted by phone 10 to 14 days after admission. Different parameters were evaluated: the recovery, the amount of remaining tablets, and the demographic characteristics of patients. RESULTS: Seventy-five percent of the evaluated patients were asymptomatic at follow-up and no longer taking the prescribed treatment. For all types of prescribed analgesics, a significant number of tablets remained in the drug boxes (P < 0.0001). After the resolution of symptoms, 90% of the studied patients reported a drug surplus. No significant difference was found in terms of patient demographic characteristics. The results were similar for both neck and low back pain subgroups. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that in case of acute low back and neck pain, a significant number of patients who return home after an emergency department consultation have a surplus of analgesics after recovery. These drugs could induce misuse. Moreover, this surplus gives rise to economic and environmental questions. One solution could be to prescribe a number of tablets depending on patients' pathology instead of entire boxes.

An Unusual Case of Acute Dyspnoea: Acute Intrathoracic Gastric Volvulus with Probable Tension Gastrothorax.

Acute gastric volvulus is a rare complication affecting 4% of hiatal hernias. It is described as an abnormal rotation of the stomach around a transverse or longitudinal axis and can be intra-abdominal or intrathoracic. Intrathoracic gastric volvulus can lead to tension gastrothorax, which is defined as the presence of a massive gastric distension in the chest cavity causing a mediastinal shift with haemodynamic instability and a risk of cardiorespiratory arrest. We report a case of intrathoracic gastric volvulus with probable tension gastrothorax. Early diagnosis of gastrothorax with computed tomography and immediate insertion of a nasogastric tube resulted in rapid clinical improvement. Surgical intervention is the treatment of choice. LEARNING POINTS: Tension gastrothorax should be suspected in the presence of abdominal and chest pain, vomiting and haemodynamic instability.Prompt diagnosis and treatment are necessary to reduce morbidity and mortality.