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The article "A Case of Infarct Myocardial Fissure" published in the Anatolian Journal of Cardiology describes the case of a 63-year-old man who presented with chest pain and hypotensive syncope. The patient was found to have a pericardial blood effusion with transmural perfusion defects of the posterolateral myocardial segments. Emergency cardiac surgery was performed to evacuate the pericardial hematoma and fix the fissure with a fibrin matrix patch. The successful outcome highlights the importance of multidisciplinary teamwork and timely imaging in managing complex cases of myocardial infarction. [Extracted from the article]

Delayed Splenic Rupture (DSR) is a rare but well-known manifestation of Blunt Splenic Injury (BSI), which most commonly occurs following a car accident, a fall from a great height, or a direct blow to the left thorax or abdomen. If the history of trauma is remote or unknown, the diagnosis can be difficult or missed, and a high index of suspicion is not warranted. Regardless of the time and mechanism of the inciting event, DSR should be considered in the differential diagnosis of an acute surgical abdomen. We present a case of DSR in an 81-year-old woman caused by a remote minor blunt abdominal trauma four weeks prior to her admission to our emergency department for acute abdominal pain and hemorrhagic shock (ATLS CLASS III). Starting with this case report, we conducted a literature review on the subject in order to raise awareness, knowledge, and understanding of DSR among emergency clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper pain management is an essential process when dealing with a patient suffering from blunt thoracic trauma, because it blocks the vicious circle that leads to the development of trauma related complications. This retrospective study deals with the use of pain killers administered in the Accidents and Emergency Department (ED) and prescribed at discharge to patients suffering from blunt thoracic trauma. The analysis confirms the existence of oligoanalgesia, that is an inadequate pain treatment, in clinical practice. Out of 214 patients involved in the study, only 78 patients (36.4%) received at least one pain killing drug during their stay in the ED. More than half of the patients discharged within 24 hours of admittance to the ED received no detailed advice about pain relief therapy and 8% of them (11 out of 136) returned to the ED within 15 days for persisting symptoms. Four were eventually admitted to hospital due to deterioration in their clinical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Strategies to restore sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) lasting less than 48 h with haemodynamic stability remain controversial. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that electrical cardioversion (EC) would be more effective and safer in converting acute AF to sinus rhythm, compared with intravenous propafenone treatment. Methods In the emergency department (ED) of Valduce Hospital, a single-centre randomised trial was conducted to compare EC with pharmacological cardioversion (PC) to restore the sinus rhythm in selected patients with acute AF. A total of 247 patients was enrolled (121 in the EC group and 126 in the PC group). Results EC was more successful than PC in restoring sinus rhythm. Successful cardioversion was achieved in 108 out of 121 patients in the EC group (89.3%) and 93 out of 126 patients in the PC group (73.8%) (HR in the EC group, 0.34; 95% CI 0.17 to 0.68; p=0.02). The time patients spent in the ED undergoing treatment was significantly lower in the EC group compared with the PC group (median (range), 180 (120-900) vs 420 (120-1400) min; p<0.001). Conclusions EC was more effective in patients with acute AF and resulted in a shorter length of stay in the ED than PC. Adverse events were small in number and transient in both groups of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) during an episode of acute or acute on chronic respiratory failure due to infection present a special problem with regard to the relief of hypoxia. In a prospective, randomized, multicenter controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of oxygen delivery by Ventimask compared with Venturi mask in patients affected by exacerbation of COPD and mild acidosis before starting with non-invasive bilevel-positive airway pressure (PAP). The study involved 80 patients with exacerbation of COPD divided in two groups: Group A=40 patients randomized to Ventimask plus standard therapy and Group B=40 patients randomised to Ventury mask plus standard therapy. The primary endpoint was to evaluate the efficacy of oxygen therapy with Ventimask compared with Venturi mask in terms of avoiding the need for non-invasive bilevel-PAP during the 1st h and reducing PaCO2 retention. Twenty-five patients (62%) started with bilevel-PAP in Group A and 28 (70%) in Group B (not significant). There were no significant changes in arterial blood gases values between the two groups. In Group A, pH and PaCO2 were 7.32±0.11 and 68.5±13.6 mmHg at admission, and 7.33±0.05 and 64.8±4.9 mmHg after 1 h (not significant). In Group B, pH and PaCO2 were, respectively, 7.32±0.11 and 65.7±13.6 mmHg at admission, and 7.33±0.03 and 64.0±5.5 mmHg after 1 h (not significant). Our conclusion did not show any significant differences between the two oxygen masks delivery in terms of preventing the need of bilevel-PAP and reducing PaCO2, despite the trend towards a reduction of the utilization of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation was in favor of Ventimask. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this rare case report we describe a 27- year-old white man survived to suicide by asphyxiation using the so-called suicide bag (or exit bag) filled with helium supplied through a plastic tube. He had no previous psychiatric or organic illnesses. At the time of presentation to our Emergency Department he was awake and reported severe dyspnea with a clinical pattern of acute respiratory failure. Imaging studies showed pulmonary edema and the patient was treated with non-invasive ventilation in Intensive Care Unit. After 15 days the patient was discharged from hospital in optimal conditions. These rare cases of survivor might suggest the possible causes of death from inhaling helium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]