Esophageal bougienage in the emergency department with a substitute Hurst dilator.

Impacted esophageal foreign bodies typically first present to the emergency department, with coins being most common in children and food boluses most common in adults. Controversy exists regarding the best treatment options in these cases. We report two cases, one pediatric and one adult, where the use of a novel substitute Hurst dilator constructed of materials regularly found in all EDs was successfully used to treat impacted esophageal foreign bodies.

Point-of-care ultrasound detection of acute scaphoid fracture.

In cases of traumatic wrist pain, emergency physicians must maintain a high index of suspicion for scaphoid fractures due to their potential for serious complications. A growing body of literature supports the use of point-of-care ultrasonography by emergency physicians in the evaluation of potential fractures. We report a case of a pediatric scaphoid fracture that was initially not visualized on x-ray and was subsequently detected using point-of-care ultrasound in the ED.

When Too Much Is Enough: Pediatric Cyproheptadine Overdose with Confirmatory Level.

Cyproheptadine is an H-1 antihistamine with anticholinergic and antiserotonergic effects. Cyproheptadine's most common use has been in the management cold-induced urticaria. It is often used in primary care for its side effect of appetite stimulation. Recently there has been increasing interest in its use in the treatment of drug-induced serotonin syndrome. Cyproheptadine overdose is uncommonly reported in the medical literature. We report the rare case of a pediatric cyproheptadine overdose with a confirmatory cyproheptadine level.

Sternoclavicular Septic Arthritis Caused by Streptococcus pyogenes in a Child.

Septic arthritis can be a devastating condition that leads to further morbidity and potential mortality if not identified early in its course. Emergency providers must keep septic arthritis high on their differential of any joint-related pain in the pediatric population. We present a case of an eight-year-old female who initially presented with the chief complaint of chest pain and was subsequently diagnosed with septic arthritis of the left sternoclavicular joint in the emergency department.

An Unusual Consolidation: Lobar Pulmonary Hemorrhage Due to Antithrombotic Therapy.

Alveolar hemorrhage is a rare yet devastating clinical entity if not identified and treated aggressively. Exceedingly rare are the cases of anticoagulant-induced alveolar hemorrhage with very few cases described in the current literature. The nonspecific presentation of an alveolar hemorrhage makes its diagnosis and appropriate treatment difficult in the emergency department. We report a case of a patient on warfarin for atrial fibrillation who was initially misdiagnosed as having community-acquired pneumonia, but subsequently was identified to have a fatal alveolar hemorrhage.

Use of 4-factor prothrombin complex concentrate in the treatment of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage complicated by dabigatran.

Target-specific oral anticoagulants (TSOACs) provide patients and healthcare providers with an alternative to vitamin K antagonists (VKA). The TSOACs are of similar or superior efficacy to warfarin, but unlike VKAs, there are no approved 'antidotes' for rapid reversal of life-threatening bleeding on therapy. We report here the case of an 83-year-old gentleman, who presented to the emergency department with severe gastrointestinal hemorrhage and coagulopathy (hemoglobin: 5.3 g/dL and INR: 2.2) while on the direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran. His coagulopathy reversed rapidly after administration of 4-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4 F-PCC), and after initial administration of 2 units of packed red blood cells, no further product transfusions were required. He was discharged 4 days later without further complications.