The predictive value of the modified early warning score with rapid lactate level (ViEWS-L) for mortality in patients of age 65 or older visiting the emergency department.

The purpose of this study is to detect the predictive power of the modified early warning score with rapid lactate level (ViEWS-L) on mortality in critical patients over the age of 65 years admitted to the emergency department (ED). A total of 616 non-traumatic patients admitted to the Uludag University Faculty of Medicine ED who were 65 years of age or older were included in this study (Ethics board number: 2015-4/8). In this prospective study; the ViEWS-L score of the patients were calculated. The results have been evaluated with rate of mortality in the first 24 h starting from submission. The area under the ROC curve was found 0.872 and the cut-off value to detect mortality was found 10.83 for the ViEWS-L score. In the model obtained by the univariate binary logistic regression analysis, ViEWS-L score was found statistically significant and it was determined that mortality risk increased 1.286 times for each unit increase in the score of ViEWS-L score. As a result of this research, it was found that ViEWS-L scoring system is effective in determining the mortality of 65 years and older patients.

Clinical probability and risk analysis of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is one of the most frequent diseases that could be missed in overcrowded emergency departments as in Turkey. Early and accurate diagnosis could decrease the mortality rate and this standard algorithm should be defined. This study is to find the accurate, fast, non-invasive, cost-effective, easy-to-access diagnostic tests, clinical scoring systems and the patients who should be tested for clinical diagnosis of PE in emergency department. METHODS: One hundred and forty patients admitted to the emergency department with the final diagnosis of PE regarding to anamnesis, physical examination and risk factors, were included in this prospective, cross-sectional study. The patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, acute coronary syndrome or infection and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were excluded from the study. The demographics, risk factors, radiological findings, vital signs, symptoms, physical-laboratory findings, diagnostic tests and clinical scoring systems of patients (Wells and Geneva) were noted. The diagnostic criteria for pulmonary emboli were: filling defect in the pulmonary artery lumen on spiral computed tomographic angiography and perfusion defect on perfusion scintigraphy. RESULTS: Totally, 90 (64%) of the patients had PE. Age, hypotension, having deep vein thrombosis were the risk factors, and oxygen saturation, shock index, BNP, troponin and fibrinogen levels as for the biochemical parameters were significantly different between the PE (+) and PE (-) groups (P<0.05). The Wells scoring system was more successful than the other scoring systems. CONCLUSION: Biochemical parameters, clinical findings, and scoring systems, when used altogether, can contribute to the diagnosis of PE.

Acute temporal lobe infarction in a young patient associated with marijuana abuse: An unusual cause of stroke.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events associated with drug abuse have been frequently reported, particularly in young patients. The drugs include generally cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. Although marijuana is among the widely used narcotics in the world, stroke associated with the marijuana use is infrequently reported. METHODS: Stroke caused by the use of marijuana was investigated in a 23-year-old man and the importance of inquiry of drug abuse in case of stroke was emphasized. RESULTS: The patient was treated for 7 days in a follow-up, but he was not recovered. The patient was discharged in his existing condition and was directed for physiotherapy and rehabilitation. CONCLUSION: Ischemic stroke is associated with drug abuse and/or substance use, mainly cannabinoids and amphetamines, particularly in young patients.

Value of the Glasgow coma scale, age, and arterial blood pressure score for predicting the mortality of major trauma patients presenting to the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to detect the mortality predictive power of new Glasgow coma scale, age, and arterial pressure (GAP) scoring system in major trauma patients admitted to the emergency department (ED). METHODS: A total of 100 major trauma patients admitted to Uludag University Faculty of Medicine ED who were 18 years of age or more were included in the study. In this prospective study, revised trauma score (RTS), injury severity score (ISS), trauma-related ISS (TRISS), Mechanism, GAP (MGAP) and GAP scores of the patients were calculated. RESULTS: A significant positive correlation was established between ISS, TRISS, MGAP, and GAP in predicting in-hospital mortality (p<0.0001). Short-term (24 hours) and long-term (4-week) mortality prediction rates and area under the curve in receiver operating characteristics analysis were 0.727-0.680 for RTS, 0.863-0.816 for ISS, 0.945-0,911 for TRISS, 0.970-0.938 for MGAP, and 0.910-0.904 for GAP. All calculated trauma scoring systems revealed a significant mortality prediction power (p<0.001). GAP score was found statistically and significantly selective and sensitive in predicting both in-ED and in-hospital mortality (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: In major trauma patients, GAP score is an easily calculable system both in the field and at the time of admission in the EDs by providing emergency physicians with future decision-making schemes by means of mortality prediction of the patients.

The role of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in identifying contrast induced nephropathy development in the emergency department.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic significance of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in detecting the development of contrast-induced nephropathy in patients undergoing contrast imaging in an emergency department setting. METHODS: The case-control study was conducted at the emergency department of Uludag University, Turkey, between January 1 and July 1, 2012, and comprised patients who underwent a diagnostic thoracic or abdominal Computed Tomography examination with contrast agent. At 2 hours and 72 hours after the scan, control urea, creatinine, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin values were recorded. Plasma lipocalin measurement was performed using fluorescence-detected immunoassay method. An increase in serum creatinine of more than 0.5 mg/dl or 25% elevation from the basal level was considered to be a marker for the occurrence of contrast-induced nephropathy. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 80 subjects in the study, 60 (75%) were cases and 20 (25%) were controls. Contrast-induced nephropathy did not develop in any of the patients, and, accordingly, no significant increase of plasma urea, creatinine, or neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin levels was observed. A significant positive relationship was found between urea and creatinine levels at 2 hours (p < 0.009) and at 72 hours (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic contrast computed tomography examination in patients with normal renal function did not lead to Contrast-induced nephropathy or increased neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin levels, an accepted early indicator of kidney injury.

Analysis of appropriate tetanus prophylaxis in an Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND: In this study, our aim was to identify the validity of the prophylaxis indications for patients who received tetanus prophylaxis, determine the ratio of high-risk wounds to the number of patients with immunity, and to evaluate the tetanus immunity of specific age groups. METHODS: Patients who applied to the Emergency Department (ED) between September 2009 and May 2010 and who were considered for tetanus prophylaxis by his/her primary care physician were included in the study. RESULTS: A total of 320 patients were evaluated. The average age of the patients was 40.87 ± 15.83 years. A total of 73.1% of the patients were male and 26.8% were female. A total of 40.3% of the patients knew their vaccination history, while 59.7% had no recollection of their vaccination history. 14.7% of the patients had received their last dose within 5 years and 48.1% within 5-10 years; 37.2% of the patients declared that more 10 years had passed since their last vaccination. In 75% of the patients, the tetanus immunoglobulin (Ig)G level was identified as >=0.1 IU/ml, while 25% of the patients had levels <0.1 IU/ml. The number of patients with protective levels was lower among those who were illiterate or who had only a primary school education, and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The vaccination histories can be misleading. Certain equipment can be used at the bedside to determine a patient's tetanus immunization status.

General characteristics of patients with electrolyte imbalance admitted to emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Fluid and electrolyte balance is a key concept to understand for maintaining homeostasis, and for a successful treatment of many metabolic disorders. There are various regulating mechanisms for the equilibrium of electrolytes in organisms. Disorders of these mechanisms result in electrolyte imbalances that may be life-threatening clinical conditions. In this study we defined the electrolyte imbalance characteristics of patients admitted to our emergency department. METHODS: This study was conducted in the Emergency Department (ED) of Uludag University Faculty of Medicine, and included 996 patients over 18 years of age. All patients had electrolyte imbalance, with various etiologies other than traumatic origin. Demographic and clinical parameters were collected after obtaining informed consent from the patients. The ethical committee of the university approved this study. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 59.28±16.79, and 55% of the patients were male. The common symptoms of the patients were dyspnea (14.7%), fever (13.7%), and systemic deterioration (11.9%); but the most and least frequent electrolyte imbalances were hyponatremia and hypermagnesemia, respectively. Most frequent findings in physical examination were confusion (14%), edema (10%) and rales (9%); and most frequent pathological findings in ECG were tachycardia in 24%, and atrial fibrillation in 7% of the patients. Most frequent comorbidity was malignancy (39%). Most frequent diagnoses in the patients were sepsis (11%), pneumonia (9%), and acute renal failure (7%). CONCLUSIONS: Electrolyte imbalances are of particular importance in the treatment of ED patients. Therefore, ED physicians must be acknowledged of their fluid-electrolyte balance dynamics and general characteristics.

Is routine pregnancy test necessary in women of reproductive age admitted to the emergency department?

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the necessity of pregnancy test in women of reproductive age admitted to emergency department (ED) in routine practice. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who presented to the ED between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010 and received a pregnancy test. RESULTS: The median age of 1 586 patients enrolled into the study was 27 years. Of these patients, 19.55% had a positive result of pregnancy test. The most common complaint at admission was abdominal pain in 60.15% of the patients, and pregnancy test was prescribed. 15.83% of the patients with abdominal pain had a positive result of pregnancy test. Of the patients, 30.64% had nausea-vomiting at admission, and 11.52% had a positive result of pregnancy test. When other complaints were considered, the most commonly observed complaints were non-specific symptoms such as dizziness, malaise and respiratory problems. Of the patients, 70.93% were not remembering the date of last menstruation, and 9.51% showed a positive result of pregnancy test. Urinary tract infection (UTI) was commonly diagnosed with an incidence of 17.65%, which was followed by non-specific abdominal pain (NSAP) (16.77%) and gastrointestinal disorders such as gastritis and peptic ulcer (6.87%). Of the patients, 88.40% were discharged from ED, and 11.60% were hospitalized. CONCLUSION: Pregnancy test should be given to women of reproductive age as a routine practice in ED in developing countries like Turkey.

Prospective validation of the Glasgow Blatchford scoring system in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to allow decision-making about hospitalization or discharge using the Glasgow Blatchford Scoring system, a risk analysis performed using basic laboratory and clinical variables, in patients presenting to the Emergency Department with upper gastrointestinal system bleeding. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, observational study conducted in the Emergency Department of a university hospital enrolled patients aged ≥18 years, who presented to the Emergency Department with upper gastrointestinal system bleeding between June 2009 and December 2010. For all patients, Glasgow Blatchford Scoring scores were calculated, and the patients were classified into two groups as high-risk and low-risk patients. RESULTS: A total of 160 subjects with upper gastrointestinal system bleeding were enrolled in the study. Mean Glasgow Blatchford Scoring scores were 7.1 ± 3.8 for 71 low-risk subjects and 11.7 ± 2.9 for 89 high-risk subjects, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.001). When the performance of the Glasgow Blatchford Scoring system was evaluated in the determination of high risk, the sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 1.41%, respectively, for a cut-off value of Glasgow Blatchford Scoring >0, 100% and 16.9% for a cut-off value of Glasgow Blatchford Scoring >3, 96.63% and 36.62% for a cut-off value of Glasgow Blatchford Scoring >5, and 86.52% and 69.01% for a cut-off value of Glasgow Blatchford Scoring >8. In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, for Glasgow Blatchford Scoring in the high-risk estimation, the area under the curve was found to be 0.82 (95% CI: 0.75-0.88), and this value was statistically significant (p=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The Glasgow Blatchford Scoring system, which may be easily calculated based on laboratory and clinical variables, seems to be a useful scoring system for risk analysis of all patients with upper gastrointestinal system bleeding admitted to the Emergency Department.

Analysis of the necessity of routine tests in trauma patients in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: The necessity of routine tests as regarded in the Advanced Trauma Life Support protocols has become controversial in recent years. The aim of this study was to analyze the necessity of routine tests in trauma patients. METHODS: This was a prospective study. A total of 103 blunt trauma patients aged between 15 and 65 years who presented to the emergency department with major trauma, Glasgow Coma Scale of 15 and Revised Trauma Score of 12 were admitted to the study. RESULTS: The average age of the patients (30.1% female, 69.9% male) was 35±12.97 years. A total of 72.8% of the patients presented for motor vehicle crashes, 12.6% for pedestrian injury and 14.6% for fall from a height. All of the routine tests were evaluated separately. With the exception of cervical examination-lateral cervical X-ray results and pelvic examination-complete blood count and urinalysis test results, significant relations were determined between the reason for requiring a test and the results of the other tests (complete blood count, lateral cervical X-ray and abdominal ultrasonography). CONCLUSION: According to our study, biochemical tests, anterior-posterior chest X-ray and anterior-posterior pelvic X-ray can be ordered as targeted tests. Conducting targeted tests will reduce costs and workload.

Hemostatic effect of a chitosan linear polymer (Celox®) in a severe femoral artery bleeding rat model under hypothermia or warfarin therapy.

BACKGROUND: In this study, the hemostatic efficacy of Celox® in rats under hypothermia or warfarin treatment was investigated. METHODS: A total of forty-eight Sprague-Dawley female rats weighing 200-350 g were used in the study. Six experimental study groups were designed, as follows: Group 1: Normothermia + compression; Group 2: normothermia + Celox®; Group 3: hypothermia + compression; Group 4: hypothermia + Celox®; Group 5: normothermia + warfarin + compression; and Group 6: normothermia + warfarin + Celox®. RESULTS: Celox® provided effective hemorrhage control in all three tested groups. There was a statistically significant difference between compression and Celox® implementation in all groups in terms of hemostasis (p-values for the normothermia, hypothermia and warfarin groups were p<0.05, p<0.01 and p<0.01, respectively). Furthermore, the compression numbers were significantly lower in all of the groups that received Celox ® than in those in which compression alone was applied (p-values for the normothermia, hypothermia and warfarin groups were p<0.01, p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: Celox® provides effective hemorrhage control under conditions of normothermia, hypothermia and use of the oral anticoagulant agent warfarin.

Factors affecting mortality in patients with thorax trauma.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to define the epidemiologic properties and correlation of physiological and anatomical risk factors with the mortality rate among patients with thorax trauma and to ensure early prediction of severe trauma. METHODS: Files of 371 cases were retrospectively examined. Their initial state in the emergency department was analyzed in terms of mortality development. Age, gender, trauma mechanism, systolic blood pressure and respiration type on admission, accompanying injuries, thorax pathology, trauma scores, and treatment approaches in exitus and surviving cases were compared. Survival probabilities and unexpected mortality rates were computed using the Trauma Revised Score-Injury Severity Score (TRISS). RESULTS: Age, hypotension, pathologic respiration, blunt injury, accompanying injury, abdominal trauma, high Injury Severity Score (ISS), and low Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Revised Trauma Score (RTS), and TRISS were the factors affecting mortality, and presence of blunt injuries, TRISS <85, ISS >22 and GCS <13 were found to be independent prognostic factors. The strongest factor indicating mortality was TRISS. Thirty-four of 307 cases with survival probability of over 50% died. CONCLUSION: In the presence of factors affecting mortality, patients with thorax trauma should be evaluated as being in a high-risk group and treatment strategies must be aggressive. Case analysis based on the TRISS model would further reveal the mistakes and may improve patient care.

Comparison of trauma scoring systems for predicting mortality in firearm injuries.

BACKGROUND: Prediction of mortality in trauma patients is an important part of trauma care. Trauma scoring systems are the current methods used for prediction of mortality. We aimed to evaluate and compare the performances of Injury Severity Score (ISS) and New Injury Severity Score (NISS) in firearm injuries. METHODS: Records of 135 firearm-injured patients who applied to Uludag University Emergency Department between January 2001 and December 2005 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients' data, including age, gender, cause of injury, initial vital signs, injury region, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Revised Trauma Score (RTS), mortality, operation data, and final diagnosis, were collected, and ISS, NISS and Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) were calculated. RESULTS: Mortality rate was 12.6%. The patients' mean GCS, RTS, ISS, NISS, and TRISS scores were 13.41 +/- 0.31, 10.65 +/- 0.26, 17.04 +/-1.20, 21.94 +/- 1.45, and 9.52 +/- 2.37, respectively. The patients were divided into two groups as ISS = NISS (53.3%) and ISS < NISS (46.7%). CONCLUSION: ISS and NISS both performed well in mortality prediction of firearm injuries. NISS demonstrated no superiority to ISS for prediction of mortality in these patients.

Radiographic correlation of symptomatic and asymptomatic flexible flatfoot in young male adults.

The purpose was to evaluate the value of radiology to distinguish between symptomatic and asymptomatic flexible flatfeet in young male adults. Among young male army recruits, 56 feet of 28 recruits were diagnosed as otherwise normal, flexible flatfoot with invisible longitudinal arch on stance and either symptomatic or asymptomatic unilaterally or bilaterally. The talus-first metatarsal and calcaneal pitch angles were measured on weight-bearing lateral radiographs, and the results were evaluated statistically. The talus-first metatarsal angle showed statistical significance in both non-parametric and logistic regression tests, but the calcaneal pitch angle showed statistical significance only in non-parametric test between symptomatic and asymptomatic flatfoot groups. Although the single gender and number of samples limit the applicability of our study, these results caused us to make an interpretation that increased talus-first metatarsal angle might be an important risk factor of being symptomatic in otherwise normal flexible flatfoot.

MR imaging in the detection of diffuse axonal injury with mild traumatic brain injury.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the occurrence and distribution of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) caused by diffuse axonal injury (DAI) using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and to attempt to correlate MR findings with post-concussion symptoms (PCS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty MTBI patients (mean age: 32.5 years) with normal cranial computed tomography (CT) findings were examined with standard MR protocol including T(1)-weighted, T(2)-weighted, fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), gradient echo (GRE) and diffusion-weighted (DW) sequences. MR imaging was performed within 24 hours of injury. The lesions were classified as DAI based on their location and morphologic appearance. RESULTS: In MR imaging of five (12.5%) of the patients, the lesions compatible with DAI were observed. Four patients (10%) had the foci of low signal intensity compatible with hemorrhagic shear injury on the GRE sequence, and five (12.5%) patients had high signal intensity on FLAIR and DW sequence. CONCLUSION: MR imaging can be helpful in revealing DAI lesions in patients with normal CT scan findings after MTBI. FLAIR, GRE and DW sequences are superior to conventional spin-echo images in detecting DAI lesions.