Acute bilateral vision loss in emergency department: A case report.

Stroke occurs due to the interruption of blood flow to the brain and it is divided into ischemic and hemorrhagic. In the ischemic strokes, while the most commonly affected vessel is median cerebral artery (MCA), it is particularly affected bilateral posterior cerebral artery (PCA) is very rare condition. In this study, a case of sudden loss of vision and bilateral occipital infarct associated with bilateral vertebral system pathology and methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutation were reported. A 62-year-old man was admitted with sudden loss of vision complaint starting 10 h before applying to emergency department. The patient was oriented and cooperative. On neurological examination, there was complete loss of vision in the right eye and only a response to light in the left eye. On the brain computerized tomography (CT), ischemic lesions were observed in the bilateral occipital areas and on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there were foci showing diffusion limitation in cortico-subcortical areas of bilateral parieto-occipital region. On the detailed examination at the clinic, MTHFR (a1298c) gene mutation was detected. Bilateral occipital infarction is rare and its diagnosis can be difficult because of its atypical symptoms. Therefore, occipital infarction should be suspected when the only sign is isolated vision loss in patients with risk factor for thromboembolism in their history and detailed visual-neurological examination of these patients should be performed.

Evaluating Unscheduled Readmission to Emergency Department in the Early Period.

BACKGROUND: The readmission in the early period (RAEP) is defined as the admission of a patient to emergency department (ED) for the second time within 72 hours after discharge from the ED. AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine the disease, patient, doctor, and system related causes of RAEP. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. METHODS: This study is a two-stage study that was conducted at Department of Emergency, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine. The causes of RAEP were defined as disease, patient, doctor, and system related causes. RESULTS: A total of 46,800 adult patients admitted to ED during the study period and 779 (1.66%) patients required RAEP. After the exclusion criteria, 429 of these patients were included the study. The most common reasons for RAEP were renal colic in 46 (10.7%) patients. It was detected that 60.4% of the causes of RAEP were related to disease, 20.0% were related to the doctor, 12.1% were related to the patient, and 7.5% were related to the hospital management system. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that there are patient-, doctor-, and system-related preventable reasons for RAEP and the patients requiring RAEP constitute the high risk group.

Association between sociodemographic characteristics and anxiety levels of violence-exposed patients admitted to emergency clinic.

BACKGROUND: Here we aimed to investigate sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric history, and association between sociodemographic characteristics and anxiety levels of violence-exposed patients admitted to emergency clinic. METHODS: This study consists of 73 violence-exposed patients admitted to emergency clinic who were literate and agreed to participate in the study. A sociodemographic data form created by us to investigate alcohol-substance abuse, suicide attempt, previous history of trauma, self and family history of psychiatric disorders and Beck Anxiety Inventory was given to the patients. RESULTS: Of the patients exposed to violence 63% (n=46) were female and 27% (n=27) were male. Of these patients, 68.5% (n=50) were married, 43.8% (n=25) were workers, 34.2% were housewives, 11% were unemployed, and 11% were civil servants. Of the violence-exposed patients, 56.2% (n=41) were primary school, 21.9% (n=16) were high school, and 21.9% (n=16) were university graduates. Smoking and alcohol use rates were 54.8% (n=40) and 17.8% (n=13), respectively. The most common trauma type was assault using physical force with a ratio of 78.1% (n=57). In addition, anxiety scores were high in 42.5% (n=31) and moderate in 9.6% (n=7) of the patients. Mentioned psychiatric disorder was present in 17.8% (n=13) of the patients and 19.2% (n=14) of the patients' relatives. The correlation between sociodemographic characteristics and anxiety scores revealed that married patients had higher anxiety scores (P<0.01) and patients assaulted by their parents had lower anxiety scores (P<0.00). CONCLUSION: A total of 63% of the violence-exposed patients admitted to emergency room were females, 56.2% were primary school graduates, and 43.8% were factory workers; this result shows that low socioeconomical status and education level affect exposure to trauma especially in females. In addition, ~20% of the patients and patients' relatives had a psychiatric disorder and 53.4% of perpetrators were parents, spouses, and children; this result shows that psychiatric history and family relations are one of the issues that should be taken into account and treated.

A prospective study: Is handheld micropower impulse radar technology (Pneumoscan) a promising method to detect pneumothorax?

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to discuss the effectiveness of Pneumoscan working with micropower impulse radar (MIR) technology in diagnosing pneumothorax (PTX) in the emergency department. METHODS: Patients with suspicion of PTX and indication for thorax tomography (CT) were included into the study. Findings of the Thorax CT were compared with the results of Pneumoscan. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used in categorical variables. RESULTS: One hundred and fifteen patients were included into the study group; twelve patients presented with PTX diagnosed by CT, 10 of which were detected by Pneumoscan. Thirty-six true negative results, sixty-seven false positive results, and two false negative results were obtained, which resulted in an overall sensitivity of 83.3%, specificity of 35.0% for Pneumoscan. There was no statistically significant difference between the effectiveness of Pneumoscan and CT on the detection of PTX (p=0.33). There was no difference between the size of PTX diagnosed by CT and PTX diagnosed by Pneumoscan (p=0.47). There was no statistically significant difference between Pneumoscan and CT on detecting the localisation of the PTX (p=1.00). For the 10 cases diagnosed by Pneumoscan, mean chest wall thickness was determined as 50.3 mm while mean chest wall thickness for two false negatives diagnosed by Pneumoscan was 56.5 mm. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the chest wall thickness and the effectiveness of Pneumoscan on the detection of the PTX (p=0.77). Among sixty-seven false positives diagnosed by Pneumoscan, 46.3% had additional medical signs such as bronchiectasis, pulmonary consolidation, pulmonary edema or pulmonary tumor when they had a reading with CT. The relationship between having additional medical signs at the reading with CT and the effectiveness of Pneumoscan on the detection of the PTX was investigated and no significant difference was found (p=0.472). CONCLUSION: Using Pneumoscan to detect PTX is controversial since the device has a high false positive ratio. Wherein, false positive diagnosis can cause unjustifiable chest tube insertion. In addition, the device failed to show the size of the PTX, and therefore, it did not aid in determining the treatment and prognosis on contrary to traditional diagnostic methods. The findings could not demonstrate that the device was efficient in emergency care. Further studies and increasing experience may change this outcome in upcoming years.