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Longtime followers of this blog may recall a kerfuffle over a year ago, related to a graduating senior’s incendiary journal club discussion, in which he examined a small but well-conducted trial of using dexamethasone in benign headaches. At the Journal Club and in my online review, concluded that a one-time dose of this pretty safe medication would be of value in reducing headache recurrence, and were dismayed when an esteemed reviewer for Journal Watch brushed aside the study as too small and unstructured (her review is reprinted in the blog post comments section).

Several residents complained in the comments section, and the term “nihilism bias” was coined. Months went by, but on the night of St. Patrick’s Day, the editor-in-chief of Journal Watch and a leading figure in EM jumped into the fray and advised us that changing practice based on a single, small study is not the kind of care he teaches or wants to be subjected to.

Steroids in headache, which had been a hot topic at SAEM last year and subject of some additional trials in the interim, was addressed again in Journal Watch this week. The very same editor reviewed a new meta-analysis of dexamethasone for acute migraines (Colman, BMJ 2008 Jun 14; 336:1359) and wrote:

“…The authors conclude that when added to standard acute migraine treatment, a single parenteral dose of dexamethasone is associated with a 26%reduction in headache recurrence within 72 hours. An accompanying editorial notes that patients with diabetes should be treated with caution because of the potential for prolonged elevation of blood sugar…

Despite the limitations of a meta-analysis, these results suggest that a single dose of dexamethasone is a reasonable addition to the treatment of acute migraine episodes that has little downside for patients without contraindications to steroids. Although dexamethasone had no benefit for initial pain relief, the number needed to treat to prevent one recurrence was only 9, suggesting that treatment has significant potential to help patients remain functional and avoid repeat emergency department visits. This study tested only parenteral administration, but an oral dose might be just as effective in nonvomiting patients.”

Perhaps a lot has changed in 18 months, perhaps not so much (the Baden 2006 study that was the basis of our original journal club was the smallest in the meta-analysis, and showed the most favorability of dexamethasone), but one things for sure — you can now order a dose of dex with a clear conscience.

There’ll be no recap of Dr. Bobrow’s excellent Grand Rounds lecture — you’ve already got the papers, the abstracts, and now you’ve got the lecture itself. We’re grateful for Dr. Bobrow’s generosity in not only coming to speak to us, but letting us post the audio from his talk online.

As for the resident and fellow presentations on central DI and general pediatric endocrine emergencies (thank Marisa and Karen, respectively), well, there’s not too much I can add, other than to check EMPeds.com for dosing information and sources like UpToDate, and online free text Pediatric Endocrinology for more background on presentation, diagnosis and treatment.

But for Dr. Jagoda’s provocative lecture on TBI and the upcoming ACEP clinical policy, see below.

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Our colleagues in orthopedics are looking for help in staffing the NYC Triathlon on July 20th.

This seems like an excellent opportunity for us, as there could be many orthopedic and non-orthopedic injuries. They’re pretty good teachers for sports-medicine type injuries but I suspect they’ll lean on our expertise for heat exhaustion, aspiration, and who knows what else.

Geordi Gantseodes is involved, and Mark Klion is the ortho in charge.  His email: bcrusher@aol.com

They are planning to meet at 5:30 AM at the 79th St Boathouse (you will be familiar with this locale after the retreat next week).  There will be a medical tent there.  The triathlon should last until 12 or 1 PM.

More triathlon info is available online.

An editor from the Atlantic Monthly recently contacted me about a piece he’s working on. He’s looking for tales of “do-it-yourself” medicine gone awry — patients that present to the ED after trying to excise lipomas, or used the web to inappropriately diagnose and medicate themselves.

If you’ve got some stories like this, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with him.

We began the new year with Dr. Shearer explaining the program’s policies & procedures. You can find copies under the ‘Policies’ tab above. As for logging procedures, duty hours, presentations and evaluations, use the New Innovations link under the ‘Clinical’ tab.

Our first talk of the year was given by Ram, who lectured on penetrating chest trauma. Below are some points that merit repeating:

• - Unstable patients with stab wounds to ‘the box’  are either hypovolemic, have PTX, or tamponade. So get some blood ordered and get an ultrasound probe.
• - Pericardiocentesis is a pretty cool procedure that has almost no role in trauma at academic centers. The volume of blood that causes tamponade physiology is scant in trauma, and even if you can aspirate that blood, it will rapidly reaccumulate. For medical effusions, pericardiocentesis can be more easily done by ultrasound guidance — I refer the reader to p76 of Dr. Nelson’s ultrasound book, or to Dr. Hoffman’s website.
• - Ram pulled a great slide from Degiannis 2006 (PMID 16773259, figure 1) that lays out your options in penetrating cardiac trauma in various clinical scenarios. After PTX has been ruled out, the lifeless patient needs endotracheal intubation and ER thoracotomy. Accept it, and it will be easier to cut. Dr. Weingart has reviewed this procedure on his website, and he has also listed other indications and contraindications for thoracotomy.

Dr. Rabin delivered her core lecture on emergencies in malignancy.

• - Neutropenic fever is defined as an absolute neutrophil count below 500 and a temperature of 38.4C (or over 38C for more than an hour). Calculating ANC is easy (this calculator and others can be found under the ‘Clinical’ tab above). The admonition to avoid rectal temps in neutropenic adults is not evidence-based, though digital rectal exams remain contraindicated.
• - Work with the patient’s oncologist in deciding ABx therapy in neutropenic patients. Vancomycin should be avoided unless indicated by cultures, course or instability.
• - Be vigilant for tumor lysis syndrome: Order a uric acid and PO4 level on your chemo patients with nonspecific symptoms. Obviously you’ll get a potassium and treat hyper-K appropriately (perhaps avoiding Ca++ unless absolutely necessary) but the urate will need urine alkalinization, and high PO4 gets phosphate binders, plus insulin+glucose.
• - Hypercalcemia (stones, moans, bones, psych overtones) needs treatment if the patient is symptomatic or over 14 mEq. Correct the calcium if the patient’s hypoalbuminemic. Treat with hydration, lasix (after hydration), bisphosphonates, and dialyze if AMS or ARF.
• - Finally, be vigilant for DVT/PE, SVC, and spinal cord mets (said to manifest with back pain that’s worse upon lying down).

Dan presented the first (and second) M+M of the year. He gave a nice introduction to the various kinds of error we are prone to, and how cheese is the answer.

• - Dan also took us through the crash airway, difficulty airway, and failed airway algorithms (you should have a copy of Ron Walls’ book, and parts are freely available online).
• - Like our reluctance with thoracotomy, cricothyroidotomy is something we have to expect, so that it’s easier to cut when we have to. Here’s the NEJM cricothyroidotomy video. Youtube has other videos. And for the hardcore among you, here’s a keychain cric kit I once blogged about.
• - While we can recognize the importance of neuro status checks for our colleagues in neurosurgery, sedating intubated patients is crucial, especially with more planned trips to the CT scanner. The agent of choice? Propofol (the milk of oblivion — rapid on, rapid off, and recommended by the BTF for ICP control). And if propofol is lowering the BP, well, this is one time where pressors in trauma makes sense.

If you want to address some of the topics above, or other aspects from conference, please comment below.