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Cervical artery dissection (CAD) accounts for 1-2% of all ischemic strokes but 10-25% of strokes in younger individuals.  CAD includes extracranial carotid and vertebral artery dissections.  A review of the literature suggests that there may be a significant risk of recurrence in subsequent years.  At this time, it is unclear whether an anti-platelet or anticoagulationRead more

  So, you’re working in the ED when a new stroke code is activated. You walk over and see a young gentleman with the complaint of left facial tingling, right arm and leg weakness with some tingling. Overall though, a relatively well looking person with mild deficits. Neurology gets there, the patient is whisked offRead more

A 45 year old male comes into the ED with a sudden, severe headache. It started while he was at work yesterday and was the worst of his life. It started feeling a little better, but hasn’t totally gone away and his wife made him come to get checked out. There are enough concerning featuresRead more

Bottom line up front: (1) Intubating those with TBI or spontaneous ICH is dangerous. You want to prevent increased ICP that is caused by laryngoscopy. (2) Pre-treat with fentanyl if time and the pt’s BP allow. The dose of fentanyl is larger than we are used to, dose 3 mcg/kg (or ~150-200mcg). (3) It isRead more

Thrombectomy performed within 6 hours of symptom onset has been demonstrated to significantly improve clinical outcomes after stroke. Though there is generally diminishing benefit with increased time interval from last known well to the time of intervention, some previous data suggested that patients with “salvageable” brain tissue on diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) may still benefitRead more

Article Citation                                                                                                                             Hacke W, Kaste M, Bluhmki E, Brozman M, et al; ECASS Investigators. Thrombolysis with alteplase 3 to 4.5 hours after acute ischemic stroke. N Engl J Med. 2008 Sep 25;359(13):1317-29. PMID: 18815396   What we already know about the topic  Last week we reviewed the 1995 NINDS trial that showed that t-PA givenRead more

There may be.     Traumatic lumbar punctures occur in up to 30% of lumbar punctures. An observational, multicenter cohort study by Jeffrey Perry et. al. attempted to answer this question and enrolled sequential patients with acute non-traumatic headaches who: had a GCS of 15, were neurologically intact, and whose headache reached a peak intensityRead more

Concerned about a SAH?  The thunderclap worst headache of your patient’s life?  Recent data suggests that a negative head CT within 6 hours of symptom onset in a neurologically intact patient doesn’t warrant an LP. Perry et al: Multicenter prospective cohort study 240/3132 (7.7%) had SAH overall SAH defined as: visualized on noncontrast head CT,Read more

Patients presenting to the ED with migraine pain can often present a challenge in terms of pain control. For patients who have pain refractory to NSAIDs, IV fluids, and migraine abortive therapies, or those who would prefer not to receive an IV, what other options can we turn to? The sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) plays aRead more

In 2016, ACEP published “Clinical Policy: Critical Issues in the Evaluation of Adult Patients with Suspected Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) in the Emergency Department” in the Annals of EM. Here is a brief refresher. Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a part of a spectrum of ischemia affecting the central nervous system. “Transient episode of neurologicRead more