Prehospital Shock Index Multiplied by the Alert/Verbal/Painful/Unresponsive Score as a Predictor of Clinical Outcomes in Traumatic Injury.

OBJECTIVE: Various prediction scores have been developed to predict mortality in trauma patients, such as the shock index (SI), modified SI (mSI), age-adjusted SI (aSI), and the shock index (SI) multiplied by the alert/verbal/painful/unresponsive (AVPU) score (SIAVPU). The SIAVPU is a novel scoring system but its prediction accuracy for trauma outcomes remains in need of further validation. Therefore, we investigated the accuracy of four scoring systems, including SI, mSI, aSI, and SIAVPU, in predicting mortality, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), and prolonged hospital length of stay ≥ 30 days (LOS). METHODS: This retrospective multicenter study used data from the Tzu Chi Hospital trauma database. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was determined for each outcome to assess their discrimination capabilities and comparing by Delong's test. Subgroup analyses were conducted to investigate the prediction accuracy of the SIAVPU in different patient populations. RESULTS: In total, 5355 patients were included in the analysis. The median of SIAVPU were significantly higher among patients at those with major injury (1.47 vs 0.63), those admitted to the ICU (0.73 vs 0.62), those with prolonged hospital LOS≥ 30 days (0.83 vs 0.64), and those with mortality (1.08 vs 0.64). The AUROC of the SIAVPU was significantly higher than that of the SI, mSI, and aSI for 24-h mortality (AUROC: 0.845 vs 0.533, 0.540, and 0.678), 3-day mortality (AUROC: 0.803 vs 0.513, 0.524, and 0.688), 7-day mortality (AUROC: 0.755 vs 0.494, 0.505, and 0.648), in-hospital mortality (AUROC: 0.722 vs 0.510, 0.524, and 0.667), ICU admission (AUROC: 0.635 vs 0.547, 0.551, and 0.563). At the optimal cutoff value of 0.9, the SIAVPU had an accuracy of 82.2% for predicting 24-h mortality, 82.8% for predicting 3-day mortality, of 82.8% for predicting 7-day mortality, of 82.5% for predicting in-hospital mortality, of 73.9% for predicting Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission, and of 81.7% for predicting prolonged hospital LOS ≥30 days. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal that SIAVPU has better accuracy than the SI, mSI, and aSI for predicting 24-h, 3-day, 7-day, and in-hospital mortality; ICU admission; and prolonged hospital LOS ≥30 days among patients with traumatic injury.

Periocular Infection of Mycobacterium avium Complex in a Patient with Interferon-γ Autoantibodies: A Case Report.

The neutralizing anti-interferon-γ autoantibody (nAIGA)-associated immunodeficiency is an emerging entity frequently associated with the nontuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) infection and other opportunistic infections. We present a female patient with a mysterious periocular Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection, accompanied by sequential opportunistic infections including Salmollelosis and herpes zoster infection. Her condition stabilized after long-term antimycobacterial treatment. Nevertheless, neutralizing anti-interferon-γ autoantibody was found in her serum, which was compatible with the scenario of adult-onset immunodeficiency.

The Effect and Safety of Rapid and Gradual Urinary Decompression in Urine Retention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background and objectives: Trials to evaluate the effect and safety of rapid and gradual urinary decompression have been published for decades. Due to inconclusive results, this study aimed to assess whether rapid bladder decompression increased complications in adults with acute urinary retention. Materials and Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases for articles published from the database inception to 31 August 2021. Studies that compared the effects and complication rates of rapid and gradual urinary decompression in adults with acute urinary retention were included. The primary outcome was post-decompression hematuria, while the secondary outcome was circulatory collapse. Meta-analyses were conducted using random effects models. Sensitivity analyses, tests for publication bias, and trial sequential analyses were conducted. The PROSPERO registration number is CRD42021233457. Results: Overall, four articles were included in the comprehensive analysis, and 435 participants met all the eligibility criteria. In the primary meta-analysis of all four study groups, rapid urinary decompression did not increase the risk of post-decompression hematuria (RR = 0.91; 95% CI: 0.62 to 1.35; p = 0.642). The I2 statistic was 0.0% (p = 0.732), indicating no substantial heterogeneity. In the meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies, the result did not change (RR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.31 to 2.52; p = 0.824). The Egger's test and Begg test (p = 0.339 and 0.497, respectively) indicated the absence of statistical evidence of publication bias. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was conducted and showed the pooled results were robust. In secondary outcome, there were no reported events of circulatory collapse in the current studies. Conclusions: The currently available data suggest that rapid urinary decompression is an effective and safe method with a complication rate similar to that of gradual decompression in an acute urinary retention population. Further large-scale randomized studies are required.

A man with intolerant vomiting.

Case presentationA 57-year-old man was in a healthy state until 6 hours before presenting to the emergency department, when he suffered from more than 10 episodes of vomiting after a large meal at lunchtime. On physical examination, vital signs were unremarkable. Tenderness was noted over the epigastrium on palpation. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) of the abdomen is shown in figure 1 and online supplementary video 1.DC1SP110.1136/emermed-2019-208863.supp1Supplementary video emermed;37/1/41/F1F1F1Figure 1Transverse (A) and longitudinal (B) ultrasonography of the epigastrium. QUESTION: What is the most likely diagnosis?Hypertrophic pylorus stenosisAortic dissectionSuperior mesentery artery (SMA) syndromeVolvulus For answer see page 2.