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OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors associated with non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) failure in acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE) diagnosed in the emergency department. METHODS: This study was prospectively conducted at the Ege University Faculty of Medicine ED between February 19, 2021 and December 01, 2021. Patients who received NIMV with ACPE were included. Patients' clinical and laboratory parameters, treatments, NIMV mode, and settings were recorded. The primary endpoint was NIMV failure (intubation within 24 h). Secondary endpoints were early NIMV failure, early mortality (within 24 h), and in-hospital mortality. Early NIMV failure was defined as follows: if the patient had a respiratory rate of more than 25 per minute, oxygen saturation below 90%, PaCO2 >50 mmHg in blood gas, and pH <7.35, 1 h after starting NIMV. RESULTS: Out of 347 patients in this study, 34 (10.7%) of them intubated within 24 h. Female sex percentage was 48.7%. Median age was 73 years. Risk factors for NIMV failure were respiratory rate >40.5, systolic blood pressure <122.5 mmHg, Glasgow Coma Score <14, pH <7.21, lactate level >5.2 mmol/L, base excess <−4.5 mmol/L, B-type natriuretic peptide level >3007 pg/mL (respectively area under the curve values; 0.723, 0.693, 0.739, 0.721, 0.690, 0.698, and 0.616). CONCLUSION: Signs of hypoperfusion such as low systolic blood pressure (<122.5 mmHg) and high lactate (lactate level >5.2 mmol/L) are risk factors for NIMV failure. Evaluation of initial vital signs and arterial blood gas parameters is significantly important for prediction of NIMV success in ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the emergency department (ED), the role of ultrasonography (USG) in risk stratification and predicting adverse events in syncope patients is a current research area. However, it is still unclear how ultrasound can be combined with existing risk scores. In this study, it was aimed to examine the contribution of the use of bedside USG to current risk scores in the evaluation of patients presenting to the ED with syncope. The predictive values of the combined use of USG and risk scores for adverse outcomes at 7 and 30 days were examined. The Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS), San Francisco syncope rules (SFSR), USG findings of carotid and deep venous structures, and echocardiography results were recorded for patients presenting with syncope. Parameters showing significance in the 7-day and 30-day adverse outcome groups were utilized to create new scores termed CSRS-USG and SFSR-USG. Predictive values were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The difference between the predictive values was evaluated with the DeLong test. The study was carried out with 137 participants. Adverse outcomes were observed in 45 participants (32.8%) within 30 days. 32 (71.7%) of the adverse outcomes were in the first 7 days. For 30-day adverse outcomes, the SFSR-USG (p = 0.001) and CSRS-USG (p = 0.038) scores had better predictive accuracy compared to SFSR and CSRS, respectively. However, there was no significant improvement in sensitivity and specificity values. The use of USG in the evaluation of syncope patients did not result in significant improvement in sensitivity and specificity values for predicting adverse events. However, larger sample-sized studies are needed to understand its potential contributions better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The overcrowding of emergency departments, insufficient bed capacity in these units, lack of integrated radiology units and the distance of other departments and intensive care units from the emergency department make it inevitable to transport patients within the hospital for either short-term or long-term purposes. Patients can be transported at least once for diagnostic and treatment procedures to radiology units, operating rooms, or intensive care units for admission. However, even during short-term patient transport in critical situations, complications may arise. Materials and Methods: This study evaluates the data obtained prospectively by examining the transport information of 588 patients who met the study criteria in an eight-month period in the emergency department of a university hospital in 2020. The study is designed to assess survival, disability, and the safe transport process of critically ill patients transported from the emergency department to hospital imaging, interventional procedures, surgery and admission units. For statistical analysis of the data, independent sample t-test was used for normally distributed variables, Mann-Whitney U test when the normality assumption was not met and chi-square, ANOVA tests were used for the comparison of categorical variables. The significance level for all hypothesis tests was set at 0.05. Results: Of the 588 patients included in the study, 36.9% were female and 63.1% were male, with an average age of 61.9 years. The average transport time for patients transferred for examination, admission or interventional procedures was 18.5 minutes. 63.3% of the transferred patients sought medical attention during the night shift. During transport, 51.7% of patients experienced problems. Among the issues encountered during transport, 48.3% were related to the system, 27% were related to equipment and 24.7% were related to human factors. The most common problem, accounting for 23.0%, was waiting in radiology units or corridors for radiology examinations and interventional procedures. Conclusion: In critically ill patients in the emergency department, the most common transport problems occur when planned examinations take place outside the emergency department. Therefore, the necessity of these requests should be carefully evaluated to reduce complications that may occur during transfer. The physical organization of emergency departments should be designed to facilitate the transfer of critical patients as quickly as possible to prevent problems that arise due to prolonged transfer times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) has attracted attention for its use in the detection of intra-abdominal pathology for pediatric patients. However, computed tomography (CT) remains the gold standard for the assessment of blunt torso trauma. The study examines the effectiveness of FAST both in the detection of intra-abdominal pathology in pediatric patients (<19 years) with blunt torso trauma and in the determination of the need for CT for further examination. Methods: The study was designed as a retrospective observational investigation of diagnostic value. The pediatric patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department with blunt torso trauma between January 2013 and October 2016 were included in the study. The sample of the study comprised 255 patients who met the inclusion criteria. The primary outcome was the effectiveness of FAST in the detection of intra-abdominal pathology and the determination of the need for CT. The secondary outcome was to identify the agreement between CT and FAST for intra-abdominal injuries. The Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for comparisons. A logistic regression model was developed to determine the variables that independently affect the agreement between FAST and CT. Results: FAST was determined to have low sensitivity (20.3%) despite its high specificity (87%). However; FAST had a good negative likelihood ratio. There was a poor agreement between CT and FAST in terms of the presence of both intra-abdominal and intrathoracic injuries in pediatric patients with blunt trunk trauma. The error rate of FAST increased by five-fold, especially in the presence of concomitant thorax trauma. However, FAST had a good negative likelihood ratio. Conclusion: FAST should not be regarded as an equivalent tool to CT for pediatric patients with blunt torso trauma. It is, instead, a noteworthy complementary tool that is a negative predictor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Trauma-related injuries constitute an important part of emergency department admissions. In order to provide appropriate health services to these patients, the readiness of physicians, especially those with limited clinical experience, should be increased in terms of knowledge and skills. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate an asynchronous e-learning module, which was prepared in order to increase the knowledge and skill levels of physicians who do not have sufficient experience in the evaluation of trauma patients, before starting to serve patients in a supervised manner, with student feedback. Methods: This research is a retrospective study in which the course feedback data of 28 students out of 39 students studying in the Emergency Medicine Specialization Training program, to whom the e-learning module on trauma was applied, were analyzed descriptively. The students' opinions were collected through an electronic questionnaire consisting of 18 likert-type and 2 open-ended questions. Results: The findings of the study showed that the asynchronous e-learning module on trauma was found to be effective in providing a flexible and accessible learning environment for students. The students found the content of the module easy to understand and evaluated it as a positive feature that they could access the content repeatedly. Conclusion: Asynchronous e-learning is a flexible, learner-centered and effective method adopted by learners for teaching theoretical content in emergency medicine residency education, while also providing more time for practical training in clinical settings for trainers and learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The hallucinogenic tryptamine analog 5-methoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine (5-MeO-MiPT) causes social problems worldwide. There are several studies on the metabolism; however, not more studies were found in the literature on acute toxicity. Aims: To report the acute toxicity of 5-MeO-MiPT in mice, followed by quantitative toxicological analysis of blood and organs, hystotoxicological and immunohistochemical analysis of tissues and cells. Study design: Animal experiment Methods: In vivo experiments were performed using CDl adult female mice (n=26). Animals were caged in 4 groups randomly. First group was a control (n=3). Second group was vehicle control (n=3) and injected 150 µL of blank solution (50% dimethyl sulfoxide in saline /0.9% of NaCl). While for acute toxicity experiments, 5-MeO-MiPT was added to a blank solution in order to obtain a dose of 0.27 mg/kg in 150 µL injection (n=10) and the last group were injected 2.7 mg/kg 5-MeO- MiPT in a 150 µL injection (n=10). Quantitative toxicological analysis, hystotoxicological and immunohistochemical analysis were performed. Results: In the toxicological analysis, 5-MeO-MiPT was found negative in biological samples which were control, vehicle control, and 0.27 mg/kg dose mice groups. 5-MeO-MiPT was found 2.7-13.4 ng/ mL in blood, 11-29 ng/g in kidney, 15.2-108.3 ng/g in liver, and 1.540.6 ng/g in the brain in 2,7 mg/kg injected group. In a low dose of the 5-MeO-MiPT liver section, compared with normal tissues, the difference in staining was statistically significant (p<0.0001). In highdose of 5-MeO-MiPT, H-score showed that the increase in the number of Caspase-3 positive cells was significant compared to the control (p<0.05). In high-dose of 5-MeO-MiPT, intense Caspase-3 immunore-activity was observed and the increase in the number of Caspase-3 positive cells compared to the control was statistically significant (p<0.05). In brain section, the statistics of the results obtained from the H-score showed that the increase in the number of Caspase-3 positive cells was significant compared to the control (p=0.0183). In vehicle control liver section, there were few Caspase-8 positive cells characterized by a light brown appearance (p=0.0117). In the high-dose 5-MeO-MiPT group, the numbers of positive cells at low and high doses of 5-MeO-MiPT group were statistically significant compared to the control (p<0.05). In the high-dose 5-MeO-MiPT group, Caspase-8 immunoreactivity was detected in the glomerular structures. Compared to control, the increase in Caspase-8 immunoreactivity was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: Low-dose 5-MeO-MiPT did not cause any serious histo-pathological effects on the liver, kidney, and brain. High doses induce apoptotic cell death through caspase activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Today, despite social and economic development, trauma is the most important public health problem for all countries. Our aim is to retrospectively overview patients with blunt multi trauma who applied to our emergency department within their treatment period in the emergency department or other surgical departments and evaluate the factors which were effective for hospitalization and mortality. Materials and Methods: In our study we evaluated 226, patients over 15 years of age who applied to Dicle University Emergency Department between January 2006 and January 2008 due to blunt multi trauma such as motor vehicle crash, fall etc. retrospectively according to their definitive medical records. For statistical analysis, we divided our patients into two groups: treated in emergency department (n=105), treated in surgical departments (n=121). Results: Of our 226 patients 71.7% (n=162) were male and 28.3% (n=64) were female. Nineteen (8.4%) of trauma patients died. The average age for all patients was 35.9±15.882 (15-94). Blood transfusion requirement effected transfer of patients to surgical department (p=0.00). Between our groups, alanin transaminase, aspartate transaminase, hematocrit and white blood cells were submitted for statistical analysis (p>0.05). Injury Severity Score (ISS) and Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) were available for group 2 patients scientifically (p<0.05). Conclusion: Multivariate analysis showed that high white blood cell levels (OR=1.0, CI=1.00+1.00, P<0,01), high AIS score (OR=4.17, CI=2.34+7.43, P=0,00) and blood transfusion requirement (OR=0.042, CI=0.005+0.33, P<0,01) were effective factors for hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backround: High rates in trauma-related mortality pose a major health problem and increase every day. Early diagnosis and treatment can be lifesavers for this patient group in the emergency departments, which serve as the first place to admit trauma patients in a hospital. Objectives: We aim to determine high-risk criteria to indicate trauma patients getting the most use from whole-body tomography in patients with multiple traumas and reduce unnecessary computed tomography. Methods: We examined retrospectively all electronic files and computed tomography results of patients, who had been admitted to emergency department due to trauma, and who had undergone whole-body computed tomography. Results: We found that possibility of multiple injuries increased by 5.9 times in patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Possibility of multiple injuries in patients with free fluid in the Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma increased by 5.6 times. We also observed that possibility of multiple injuries in patients with Glasgow Coma Score < 13 increased by 4.3 times. Possibility of multiple injuries in hypoxic patients increased by 3.2 times. Possibility of multiple injuries in patients with a pulse ≥ 120/min increased by 1.8 times. Possibility of multiple injuries in patients with shock index ≥ 0.9 increased by 1.7 times. Conclusion: High-risk group in terms of multiple traumas involves mechanical ventilation need in trauma patients, positive Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma, Glasgow Coma Score being under 13, hypoxia, tachycardia, positive shock index, and extravehicular traffic accidents. Whole-body computed tomography should be performed in this patient group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Most pesticides containing Endosulfan have either been restricted or prohibited due to the fact that they remain active longer in nature, and have a long half-life and mid-level toxicity in the body. Acute or chronic exposure to Endosulfan, which may be life-threatening or at times fatal, has rarely been reported. Our aim was to analyze the affective factors of endosulfan toxicity on clinical findings and mortality cases. Materials and Methods: In the study, all patients who called upon the emergency service due to suicidal endosulfan ingestion were retrospectively analyzed. Twenty-seven patients over the age of 15 years with definite proof that they used medicine containing an endosulfan substance were included into the study. Results: The average age of our patients was 26.56±13.6 years (15-68). The number of male patients was 10 (37.1%), while that of female patients was 17 (62.9%). There were 17 patients (62.9%) who presented with nausea and vomiting complaints, 12 (44.4%) patients with seizure, and 15 (55.5%) with loss of consciousness. The 5 patients who died had loss of consciousness and seizure, and required mechanical ventilation support during seizure and follow-up. In the surviving group, however, loss of consciousness was detected in 10 patients, seizure during follow-up in 5, and ventilation support was required in 5 patients. Conclusion: Loss of consciousness following suicidal endosulfan ingestion, seizure on arrival and/or during follow-up and need for mechanical ventilation support were the factors which affected mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]