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Urgent Conditions (urgent + condition)
Selected AbstractsBilious vomiting in the newborn: 6 years data from a Level III CentreJOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 5 2010Atul Malhotra Background: Bilious vomiting in the newborn is an urgent condition that frequently requires neonatal and paediatric surgical involvement. Investigations involve abdominal X-ray and contrast imaging in most cases. We aimed to describe the prevalence of surgical intervention in this cohort and assess the reliability of contrast imaging in accurate prediction of underlying condition. Methods: A retrospective audit of data from December 2001 to October 2007 was undertaken. Data on newborns admitted to a level III unit with bilious vomiting was extracted. Infants with bilious aspirates but no vomiting were excluded. Results: Sixty-one infants were admitted to the unit during the period with bilious vomiting. Most of them were out born (83.6%). Mean (and standard deviation) gestation was 38.3 weeks (±3.2); weight was 3173.5 grams (±717.6); day of admission was 3.68 days (1,28); and length of stay in the unit was 9.96 days (1,48). There were 52 (85.2%) abnormal X-rays and 21 (34.4%) abnormal contrast studies. Sixteen (26.6%) babies had laparotomies of which 6 were malrotations with volvulus, 2 small bowel obstructions, 2 meconium ileus, 2 Hirschsprung's disease, 2 other findings, while 2 were normal. Positive predictive value (number of accurate predictions of surgical findings) for barium contrast studies was 85.7% in this series. Conclusion: Bile stained vomiting is a surgical emergency and prompt investigation is the key in the management. Contrast studies still form the backbone of such investigations. [source] Can the Emergency Department Algorithm Detect Changes in Access to Care?ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 6 2008Robert A. Lowe MD Abstract Objectives:, The "emergency department algorithm" (EDA) uses emergency department (ED) diagnoses to assign probabilities that a visit falls into each of four categories: nonemergency, primary care,treatable emergency, preventable emergency needing ED care, and nonpreventable emergency. The EDA's developers report that it can evaluate the medical safety net because patients with worse access to care will use EDs for less urgent conditions. After the Oregon Health Plan (OHP, Oregon's expanded Medicaid program) underwent cutbacks affecting access to care in 2003, the authors tested the ability of the EDA to detect changes in ED use. Methods:, All visits to 22 Oregon EDs during 2002 were compared with visits during 2004. For each payer category, mean probabilities that ED visits fell into each of the four categories were compared before versus after the OHP cutbacks. Results:, The largest change in mean probabilities after the cutbacks was 2%. Attempts to enhance the sensitivity of the EDA through other analytic strategies were unsuccessful. By contrast, ED visits by the uninsured increased from 6,682/month in 2002 to 9,058/month in 2004, and the proportion of uninsured visits leading to hospital admission increased by 51%. Conclusions:, The EDA was less useful in demonstrating changes in access to care than were other, simpler measures. Methodologic concerns with the EDA that may account for this limitation are discussed. Given the widespread adoption of the EDA among health policy researchers, the authors conclude that further refinement of the methodology is needed. [source] Two-stage liver transplantation: an effective procedure in urgent conditionsCLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2010Roberto Montalti Montalti R, Busani S, Masetti M, Girardis M, Di Benedetto F, Begliomini B, Rompianesi G, Rinaldi L, Ballarin R, Pasetto A, Gerunda GE. Two-stage liver transplantation: an effective procedure in urgent conditions. Clin Transplant 2010: 24: 122,126. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Abstract:, Temporary portocaval shunt and total hepatectomy is a technique used in the presence of toxic liver syndrome because of fulminant hepatic failure, hepatic trauma, primary non-function (PNF), and eclampsia. We performed this technique on four patients. An indication for anhepatic state was severe hemodynamic instability in three of them. Etiologies of these three patients were as follows: PNF after liver transplantation, ischemic hepatitis after right hepatic artery embolization, and massive reperfusion syndrome during a liver transplantation. In the fourth patient, during the liver transplantation when hepatic artery was ligated, a kidney carcinoma in the donor graft was discovered. We decided to complete the hepatectomy and to construct a temporary portocaval shunt. Mean anhepatic phases were 19 h and 15 min. All patients survived the two-stage liver transplantation procedure without major complications. Our cases demonstrated that temporary portocaval shunt while awaiting urgent liver transplantation could be an effective "bridge" in selected patients who develop toxic liver syndrome; however, a short time between portocaval shunt and transplantation and careful intensive care managements are mandatory. [source] | ||||||||||