Search

Background/aim: To describe seasonal variations in epidemiology, management, and short-term outcomes of patients in Europe presenting to an emergency department (ED) with a main complaint of dyspnea., Materials and Methods: Anobservational prospective cohort study was performed in 66 European EDs which included consecutive patients presenting to EDs with dyspnea as the main complaint during 3 72-h study periods. Data were collected on demographics, comorbidities, chronic treatment, prehospital treatment, mode of arrival of patient to ED, clinical signs at admission, treatment in the ED, ED diagnosis, discharge from ED, and in-hospital outcome., Results: The study included 2524 patients with a median age of 69 (53–80) years old. Of the patients presented, 991 (39.3%) were in autumn, 849 (33.6%) were in spring, and 48 (27.1%) were in winter. The winter population was significantly older (P < 0.001) and had a lower rate of ambulance arrival to ED (P < 0.001). In the winter period, there was a higher rate for lower respiratory tract infection (35.1%), and patients were more hypertensive, more hypoxic, and more hyper/hypothermic compared to other seasons. The ED mortality was about 1% and, in hospital, mortality for admitted patients was 7.4%., Conclusion: The analytic method and the outcome of this study may help to guide the allocation of ED resources more efficiently and to recommend seasonal ED management protocols based on the seasonal trend of dyspneic patients., Competing Interests: none declared, (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

Chest pain and acute dyspnoea are frequent causes of emergency medical services activation. The pre-hospital management of these conditions is heterogeneous across different regions of the world and Europe, as a consequence of the variety of emergency medical services and absence of specific practical guidelines. This position paper focuses on the practical aspects of the pre-hospital treatment on board and transfer of patients taken in charge by emergency medical services for chest pain and dyspnoea of suspected cardiac aetiology after the initial assessment and diagnostic work-up. The objective of the paper is to provide guidance, based on evidence, where available, or on experts' opinions, for all emergency medical services' health providers involved in the pre-hospital management of acute cardiovascular care.

Aim: To illustrate the pre-hospital management arsenals and protocols in different EMS units, and to estimate the perceived difficulty of diagnosing suspected acute heart failure (AHF) compared with other common pre-hospital conditions., Methods and Results: A multinational survey included 104 emergency medical service (EMS) regions from 18 countries. Diagnostic and therapeutic arsenals related to AHF management were reported for each type of EMS unit. The prevalence and contents of management protocols for common medical conditions treated pre-hospitally was collected. The perceived difficulty of diagnosing AHF and other medical conditions by emergency medical dispatchers and EMS personnel was interrogated. Ultrasound devices and point-of-care testing were available in advanced life support and helicopter EMS units in fewer than 25% of EMS regions. AHF protocols were present in 80.8% of regions. Protocols for ST-elevation myocardial infarction, chest pain, and dyspnoea were present in 95.2, 80.8, and 76.0% of EMS regions, respectively. Protocolized diagnostic actions for AHF management included 12-lead electrocardiogram (92.1% of regions), ultrasound examination (16.0%), and point-of-care testings for troponin and BNP (6.0 and 3.5%). Therapeutic actions included supplementary oxygen (93.2%), non-invasive ventilation (80.7%), intravenous furosemide, opiates, nitroglycerine (69.0, 68.6, and 57.0%), and intubation 71.5%. Diagnosing suspected AHF was considered easy to moderate by EMS personnel and moderate to difficult by emergency medical dispatchers (without significant differences between de novo and decompensated heart failure). In both settings, diagnosis of suspected AHF was considered easier than pulmonary embolism and more difficult than ST-elevation myocardial infarction, asthma, and stroke., Conclusions: The prevalence of AHF protocols is rather high but the contents seem to vary. Difficulty of diagnosing suspected AHF seems to be moderate compared with other pre-hospital conditions., (© 2019 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology and management of dyspneic patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in an international patient population. Our secondary objective was to compare the EURODEM and AANZDEM patient populations., Patients and Methods: An observational prospective cohort study was carried out in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The study included consecutive patients presenting to EDs with dyspnea as the main complaint. Data were collected on demographics, comorbidities, chronic treatment, clinical signs and investigations, treatment in the ED, diagnosis, and disposition from ED., Results: A total of 5569 patients were included in the study. The most common ED diagnoses were lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) (24.9%), heart failure (HF) (17.3%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation (15.8%), and asthma (10.5%) in the overall population. There were more LRTI, HF, and COPD exacerbations in the EURODEM population, whereas asthma was more frequent in the AANZDEM population. ICU admission rates were 5.5%. ED mortality was 0.6%. The overall in-hospital mortality was 5.0%. In-hospital mortality rates were 8.7% for LRTI, 7.6% for HF, and 5.6% for COPD patients., Conclusion: Dyspnea as a symptom in the ED has high ward and ICU admission rates. A variety of causes of dyspnea were observed in this study, with chronic diseases accounting for a major proportion.

Objective: Asthma exacerbations are common presentations to ED. Key guideline recommendations for management include administration of inhaled bronchodilators, systemic corticosteroids and titrated oxygen therapy. Our aim was to compare management and outcomes between patients treated for asthma in Europe (EUR) and South East Asia/Australasia (SEA) and compliance with international guidelines., Methods: In each region, prospective, interrupted time series studies were performed including adult (age >18 years) patients presenting to ED with the main complaint of dyspnoea during three 72 h periods. This was a planned sub-study that included those with an ED primary diagnosis of asthma. Data was collected on demographics, clinical features, treatment in ED, diagnosis, disposition and in-hospital outcome. The results of interest were differences in treatment and outcome between EUR and SEA cohorts., Results: Five hundred and eighty-four patients were identified from 112 EDs (66 EUR and 46 SEA). The cohorts had similar demographics and co-morbidity patterns, with 89% of the cohort having a previous diagnosis of asthma. There were no significant differences in treatment between EUR and SEA patients - inhaled beta-agonists were administered in 86% of cases, systemic corticosteroids in 66%, oxygen therapy in 44% and antibiotics in 20%. Two thirds of patients were discharged home from the ED., Conclusion: The data suggests that compliance with guideline-recommended therapy in both regions, particularly corticosteroid administration, is sub-optimal. It also suggests over-use of antibiotics., (© 2019 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.)

Aims: It is unknown whether cardiac syncope, and possibly also other syncope aetiologies exhibit circadian, weekly, seasonal, and temperature-dependent patterns., Methods and Results: We prospectively recorded the exact time, date, and outside temperature of syncope of patients >40 years old presenting with syncope to the emergency department in a diagnostic multicentre study. Two independent cardiologists/emergency physicians adjudicated the final diagnosis based on all information becoming available during clinical work-up including 1-year follow-up. Among 1230 patients, the adjudicated aetiology was cardiac in 14.6%, reflex in 39.2%, orthostatic in 25.7%, other non-cardiac in 9.7%, and unknown in 10.8% of patients. All syncope aetiologies occurred much more frequently during the day when compared with the night (P < 0.01). While reflex and orthostatic syncope showed a broad peak of prevalence with 80.9% of these events occurring between 4 am and 4 pm, cardiac syncope showed a narrow peak of prevalence with 70.1% of all events occurring between 8 am and 2 pm. A weekly pattern was present for most syncope aetiologies, with events occurring mainly from Monday to Friday (P < 0.01). Reflex syncope displayed a seasonal rhythm and was more common in winter (P < 0.01), while cardiac syncope stayed constant over the year. Syncope occurred most often when the outside temperature was coldest. Overall the patterns observed for cardiac syncope were similar to the patterns observed for its differential diagnosis., Conclusion: Syncope aetiologies in patients >40 years old display circadian, weekly, seasonal, and temperature-dependent patterns. Unfortunately, these patterns do not allow to reliably differentiate cardiac syncope from other aetiologies., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2018. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) without ST-segment elevation are a heterogenic group with a variety of underlying causes. Up to one-third of patients display a significant coronary lesion compatible with myocardial infarction as OHCA trigger. There are no randomized data on patient selection and timing of invasive coronary angiography after admission. METHODS AND RESULTS: The TOMAHAWK trial randomly assigns 558 patients with return of spontaneous circulation after OHCA with no obvious extracardiac origin of cardiac arrest and no ST-segment elevation/left bundle-branch block on postresuscitation electrocardiogram to either immediate coronary angiography or initial intensive care assessment with delayed/selective angiography in a 1:1 ratio. The primary end point is 30-day all-cause mortality. Secondary analyses will be performed with respect to initial rhythm, electrocardiographic patterns, myocardial infarction as underlying cause, neurological outcome, as well as clinical and laboratory markers. Clinical follow-up will be performed at 6 and 12 months. Safety end points include bleeding and stroke. CONCLUSION: The TOMAHAWK trial will address the unresolved issue of timing and general indication of angiography after OHCA without ST-segment elevation., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We present the results of transrectal thin needle aspiration biopsy of the prostate in 133 patients. Test specificity was 94 per cent and sensitivity also appeared to be high initially. However, with repeated rectal examinations and biopsies during an 11-year period a number of additional false negatives became apparent, which resulted in an apparent test sensitivity of 82 per cent, lower than most previously published reports. Our data suggest that aspiration biopsy has specificity and sensitivity similar to core biopsy, it is important to re-test patients who have a palpable abnormality and an initially benign biopsy, and aspiration biopsy simplicity allows for a low threshold of suspicion of subtle abnormalities and for repeating biopsies after negative findings.