Emergency Medical Minute

Author: Michael Hunt, MD Educational Pearls: Like all tests, urine toxicology (utox) screens can have false positives Prescription medications such as demerol, antipsychotics, ketamine, and tramadol can all produce a false positive utox for PCP Over-the-counter medication such as dextromethorphan also mimic PCP on utox References Doyon S. (January 2014). False Positive Urine Screens for Phencyclidine. ToxTidbits. Retrieved from https://www.mdpoison.com/media/SOP/mdpoisoncom/ToxTidbits/2014/January%202014%20ToxTidbits.pdf Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Educational Pearls: Acetaminophen overdose can also present in patients taking too much over the course of days to weeks - not just intentional ingestions If acute overdose is suspected, refer to the Rumak-Matthew nomogram to guide treatment based on time of ingestion and the time of level In chronic overdose, Tylenol levels will not guide treatment NAPQI is the toxic metabolite of acetaminophen N-acetylcysteine (NAC) can be effective treatment in both acute and chronic overdoses 7.5 g is the daily toxic dose of Tylenol in adults, 150mg/kg in children References: Smilkstein MJ. Acetaminophen. In: Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies, Goldfrank LR, Flomenbaum NE, Lewin NA, et al (Eds), Appleton & Lange, Stamford 1998. P.541. Chiew AL, Gluud C, Brok J, Buckley NA. Interventions for paracetamol (acetaminophen) overdose. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Feb 23;2:CD003328. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003328.pub3. Review. PubMed PMID: 29473717. Lancaster EM, Hiatt JR, Zarrinpar A. Acetaminophen hepatotoxicity: an updated review. Arch Toxicol. 2015 Feb;89(2):193-9. doi: 10.1007/s00204-014-1432-2. Epub 2014 Dec 24. Review. PubMed PMID: 25537186. Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Sam Killian, MD Educational Pearls: Headache is a common complaint in the ED. It's plausible that headaches could be correlated with environmental factors A 2015 study ED visits for headache found that temperature was associated with an increase visits, while higher humidity led to fewer A retrospective study looking over a 10-year period for headache found that there was an increase headache presentations during days with high air pollution References: Yilmaz M, Gurger M, Atescelik M, Yildiz M, Gurbuz S. Meteorologic parameters and migraine headache: ED study. Am J Emerg Med. 2015 Mar;33(3):409-13. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2014.12.056. Epub 2014 Dec 31. PubMed PMID: 25601162. Szyszkowicz M, Stieb DM, Rowe BH. Air pollution and daily ED visits for migraine and headache in Edmonton, Canada. Am J Emerg Med. 2009 May;27(4):391-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2008.03.013. PubMed PMID: 19555607. Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Sam Killian, MD Educational Pearls: Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) occurs in 1:100000 individuals The disease is caused by a defect in the NOTCH3 gene on chromosome 19 It is an important cause of stroke in young patients Features include ischemia, cognitive deficits, migraines, psychiatric disease, coma, and seizure, all of which is worse with pregnancy Migraine with aura is often the first presenting symptom with onset by age 30 Strokes typically can occur by age 50 Diagnosis is with MRI for characteristic lesions Unfortunately there is no cure, and treatment is focused on stroke prevention with aspirin and statins References: Chabriat H, Joutel A, Dichgans M, Tournier-Lasserve E, Bousser MG. Cadasil. Lancet Neurol. 2009 Jul;8(7):643-53. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(09)70127-9. Review. PubMed PMID: 19539236. Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Don Stader, MD Educational Pearls: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are effective pain relievers but come with important side effects NSAIDs inhibit COX-1 and/or COX-2, which decreases the production of prostaglandins, which reduce pain and inflammation Side effects of NSAIDS include increased rates myocardial infarction, stroke, and gastrointestinal bleeding, CVA Effective pain reliever doses of many NSAIDs are lower than typically prescribed (i.e. ibuprofen 400 mg is as effective as 800 mg but with less risk of side effects) Topical NSAIDs can be an alternative to reduce systemic effects Selective Cox-2 inhibitors have less GI side effects Editor note: What is ALTO? It's alternative to opioids and consists of multi-modal pain control to reduce exposure to opioids. Check out more here and here. References: Derry S, Wiffen PJ, Kalso EA, Bell RF, Aldington D, Phillips T, Gaskell H, Moore RA. Topical analgesics for acute and chronic pain in adults - an overview of Cochrane Reviews. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 May 12;5:CD008609. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008609.pub2. Review. PubMed PMID: 28497473. Coxib and traditional NSAID Trialists' (CNT) Collaboration., Bhala N, Emberson J, Merhi A, Abramson S, Arber N, Baron JA, Bombardier C, Cannon C, Farkouh ME, FitzGerald GA, Goss P, Halls H, Hawk E, Hawkey C, Hennekens C, Hochberg M, Holland LE, Kearney PM, Laine L, Lanas A, Lance P, Laupacis A, Oates J, Patrono C, Schnitzer TJ, Solomon S, Tugwell P, Wilson K, Wittes J, Baigent C. Vascular and upper gastrointestinal effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: meta-analyses of individual participant data from randomised trials. Lancet. 2013 Aug 31;382(9894):769-79. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60900-9. Epub 2013 May 30. PubMed PMID: 23726390; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3778977. Kaufman DW, Kelly JP, Battista DR, Malone MK, Weinstein RB, Shiffman S. Exceeding the daily dosing limit of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs among ibuprofen users. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2018 Mar;27(3):322-331. doi: 10.1002/pds.4391. Epub 2018 Jan 26. PubMed PMID: 29372579. Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Sam Killian, MD Educational Pearls: Viral gastroenteritis alters the gut microbiome and it is theorized that probiotics may help reduce the duration and severity of the disease. Double-blind randomized controlled trial involving almost 900 children with viral gastroenteritis compared 5 days of probiotics to a control group. There was no difference in the rates of severe gastroenteritis between the two groups Probiotics are likely unhelpful for kid with viral gastroenteritis References: Freedman SB, Williamson-Urquhart S, Farion KJ, Gouin S, Willan AR, Poonai N, Hurley K, Sherman PM, Finkelstein Y, Lee BE, Pang XL, Chui L, Schnadower D, Xie J, Gorelick M, Schuh S; PERC PROGUT Trial Group.. Multicenter Trial of a Combination Probiotic for Children with Gastroenteritis. N Engl J Med. 2018 Nov 22;379(21):2015-2026. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1802597. PubMed PMID: 30462939. Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Dylan Luyten, MD Educational Pearls: A "banana bag" is a bag of IV fluid that contains various vitamins and minerals including folate and thiamine IV fluids do not alter intoxicated patients recovery in the emergency department Folate deficiency is rare in the intoxicated patient Some intoxicated patients may be thiamine deficient, and those that would benefit the most need significantly more daily thiamine supplementation than provided in a banana bag References: Perez SR, Keijzers G, Steele M, Byrnes J, Scuffham PA. Intravenous 0.9% sodium chloride therapy does not reduce length of stay of alcohol-intoxicated patients in the emergency department: a randomised controlled trial. Emerg Med Australas. 2013 Dec;25(6):527-34. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.12151. Epub 2013 Nov 8. PubMed PMID: 24308613; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4253317. Li SF, Jacob J, Feng J, Kulkarni M. Vitamin deficiencies in acutely intoxicated patients in the ED. Am J Emerg Med. 2008 Sep;26(7):792-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2007.10.003. PubMed PMID: 18774045. ay E, Bentham PW, Callaghan R, Kuruvilla T, George S. Thiamine for prevention and treatment of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome in people who abuse alcohol. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jul 1;(7):CD004033. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004033.pub3. Review. PubMed PMID: 23818100. Summarized by Will Dewsipelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Ryan Circh, MD Educational Pearls: Chronic salicylate (ASA) toxicity can present in elderly patients as altered mental status Consider chronic toxicity in patients with an unexplained anion gap acidosis Treatment for chronic ingestion typically includes IV fluids and urine alkalinization References: O'Malley GF. Emergency department management of the salicylate-poisoned patient. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2007 May;25(2):333-46; abstract viii. Review. PubMed PMID: 17482023. Durnas C, Cusack BJ. Salicylate intoxication in the elderly. Recognition and recommendations on how to prevent it. Drugs Aging. 1992 Jan-Feb;2(1):20-34. Review. PubMed PMID: 1554971. Summarized by Will Dewsipelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Dylan Luyten, MD Educational Pearls: Recent randomized controlled trial compared intravenous to oral acetaminophen in emergency department patients There was no difference in pain relief between the groups While the actual acquisition cost of these drugs are not significant, the cost multipliers that are passed onto patients lead to real dollars With the significant cost of IV acetaminophen, it may not be the best choice given the lack of superiority to other formulations References: Furyk J, Levas D, Close B, Laspina K, Fitzpatrick M, Robinson K, Vangaveti VN, Ray R. Intravenous versus oral paracetamol for acute pain in adults in the emergency department setting: a prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, randomised controlled trial.Emerg Med J. 2018 Mar;35(3):179-184. doi: 10.1136/emermed-2017-206787. Epub 2017 Dec 15. PubMed PMID: 29247042. Summarized by Will Dewsipelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Author: Dylan Luyten, MD Educational Pearls: 1:500 patients will experience a retinal detachment Consider stroke on your differential (central retinal arterial occlusion) Flashes and floaters are a common complaint with retinal detachments Though patients may report fields of vision loss, visual acuity is often spared Ocular ultrasound is an effective way to diagnosis retinal detachment in the ED These require urgent ophthalmologic consultation for surgical repair References: https://www.aliem.com/2014/03/ocular-ultrasound-retinal-detachment-posterior-vitreous-detachment/ Gottlieb M, Holladay D, Peksa GD. Point-of-Care Ocular Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of Retinal Detachment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Acad Emerg Med. 2019 Jan 13. doi: 10.1111/acem.13682. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30636351. Summarized by Will Dewsipelaere, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD