Behavioral Conditioning, the Placebo Effect, and Emergency Department Pain Management.

Animals and humans can be readily conditioned to associate a novel stimulus (often a unique taste) by pairing it with the effects of a drug or other agent. When later presented with the stimulus alone, their body's systems respond as if the drug or agent were given. The earliest clinical applications demonstrated both conditioned suppression and enhancement of immune processes. Unique benign stimuli, paired with chemotherapy, come to elicit T-cell suppression when administered alone. The beneficial immune responses to an antigen can be conditioned in the same manner. Further study of what came to be called "psychoneuroimmunology" led to the understanding that the familiar placebo effect, previously attributed to suggestion and expectation, is at least equally dependent on the same sorts of behavioral conditioning. The demonstrated ability to manipulate the immune system by a conditioned taste stimulus is, by definition, a placebo: a therapeutic effect caused by an inactive agent. The purpose of this analysis was to stimulate research in, and the application of, placebo-response conditioning to emergency medicine. Clinical and experimental studies confirm the usefulness of conditioned placebos in analgesia and in placebo-controlled dose reduction. Such conditioning paradigms demonstrate "one-trial learning," making them potentially useful in pain and addiction management within a single emergency department encounter.

Toppling Oranges: Death, Disability, Decline, and Readmission of Community-Dwelling Elderly Patients After an Emergency Department Visit.

BACKGROUND: Every emergency department (ED) faces both a rising tide and a revolving door of elderly patients. Unplanned short-term returns after a recent ED evaluation or hospital admission are sentinel events. Consequences include substantial functional decline, reduced health-related quality of life, and increased risk of dependency or death. Returning families, unaware of the significant likelihood of deterioration after an ED or hospital discharge, often harbor suspicions that something was missed. Literature describing the significant likelihood of functional decline in elderly patients after ED or hospital discharge is presented. Suggestions for incorporating the potential for subsequent deterioration into the evaluation of elderly ED patients and the discussions surrounding disposition decisions are included. DISCUSSION: In addition to impacting patients and families, posthospitalization decline and short-term readmissions create serious burdens for hospitals and their EDs. Education, vigilance, specialized geriatric EDs, dedicated inpatient units, and ED access to outpatient services for the elderly can aid in the recognition and mitigation of postvisit functional decline and associated returns. Financial incentives for reducing short-term readmissions can translate into novel approaches and referral arrangements. CONCLUSIONS: Currently, and for the foreseeable future, EDs are integral to predicting, identifying, and preventing functional decline in the elderly. For now, we are all Geriatric EDs.

Peripheral neuropathic mimics of visceral abdominal pain: Can physical examination limit diagnostic testing?

BACKGROUND: The emergency department evaluation of patients with abdominal pain is most appropriately directed at identifying acute inflammation, infection, obstruction, or surgical disease. Doing so commonly involves "routine" (and often extensive) diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing. Benign mimics of serious visceral abdominal pain that can be diagnosed by physical exam and confirmed with local anesthetic injections have been identified over the last century. These syndromes derive from painful irritation of the intercostal nerves by a mobile rib below, or from impingement of the cutaneous branches of those same intercostal nerves as they penetrate the abdominal wall. These peripheral neuropathic mimics of visceral abdominal pain continue to go unrecognized and underdiagnosed. METHODS: Our purpose is to review the affirmative diagnosis of non-visceral abdominal pain by physical examination. RESULTS: The consequences of failure to identify these conditions are considerable. In the search for a diagnosis that is literally at the provider's fingertips, patients frequently undergo months to years of fruitless and often invasive diagnostic tests, not uncommonly including unsuccessful surgeries. CONCLUSIONS: With proper consideration of and appropriate testing for visceral etiologies, a carefully directed physical examination may yield an affirmative diagnosis in a percentage of these common emergency department patients.

Emergency Department Management of Suspected Calf-Vein Deep Venous Thrombosis: A Diagnostic Algorithm.

INTRODUCTION: Unilateral leg swelling with suspicion of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a common emergency department (ED) presentation. Proximal DVT (thrombus in the popliteal or femoral veins) can usually be diagnosed and treated at the initial ED encounter. When proximal DVT has been ruled out, isolated calf-vein deep venous thrombosis (IC-DVT) often remains a consideration. The current standard for the diagnosis of IC-DVT is whole-leg vascular duplex ultrasonography (WLUS), a test that is unavailable in many hospitals outside normal business hours. When WLUS is not available from the ED, recommendations for managing suspected IC-DVT vary. The objectives of the study is to use current evidence and recommendations to (1) propose a diagnostic algorithm for IC-DVT when definitive testing (WLUS) is unavailable; and (2) summarize the controversy surrounding IC-DVT treatment. DISCUSSION: The Figure combines D-dimer testing with serial CUS or a single deferred FLUS for the diagnosis of IC-DVT. Such an algorithm has the potential to safely direct the management of suspected IC-DVT when definitive testing is unavailable. Whether or not to treat diagnosed IC-DVT remains widely debated and awaiting further evidence. CONCLUSION: When IC-DVT is not ruled out in the ED, the suggested algorithm, although not prospectively validated by a controlled study, offers an approach to diagnosis that is consistent with current data and recommendations. When IC-DVT is diagnosed, current references suggest that a decision between anticoagulation and continued follow-up outpatient testing can be based on shared decision-making. The risks of proximal progression and life-threatening embolization should be balanced against the generally more benign natural history of such thrombi, and an individual patient's risk factors for both thrombus propagation and complications of anticoagulation.

Ischemic Conditioning: Implications for Emergency Medicine.

Ischemic conditioning refers to the ability of brief episodes of controlled hypoperfusion around the time of an acute ischemic event to protect the target organ from reperfusion injury. A considerable body of literature suggests that interventions as simple and safe as repetitively inflating a blood pressure cuff could reduce the size and long-term morbidity of myocardial and cerebral infarction. This review introduces and summarizes the body of evidence contributing to these impressions.

Suspected esophageal coin--look again.

A 4-year-old presented to the emergency department, asymptomatic, with the strong suspicion (by history, physical examination, and initial radiographic interpretation by the emergency physician) of an esophageal coin. Closer inspection revealed radiographic signs associated with disk battery ingestion, a surgical emergency. In the operating room superimposed coins, mimicking the radiographic appearance of a disk (button) battery, were extracted. This case highlights the important management differences between ingested coins and batteries, the need for cautious interpretation of radiographs, and presents a rare mimic of a serious ingestion.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Intravenous Haloperidol vs. Intravenous Metoclopramide for Acute Migraine Therapy in the Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND: Emergency Department (ED) headache patients are commonly treated with neuroleptic antiemetics like metoclopramide. Haloperidol has been shown to be effective for migraine treatment. STUDY OBJECTIVE: Our study compared the use of metoclopramide vs. haloperidol to treat ED migraine patients. METHODS: A prospective, double-blinded, randomized control trial of 64 adults aged 18-50 years with migraine headache and no recognized risks for QT-prolongation. Haloperidol 5 mg or metoclopramide 10 mg was given intravenously after 25 mg diphenhydramine. Pain, nausea, restlessness (akathisia), and sedation were assessed with 100-mm visual analog scales (VAS) at baseline and every 20 min, to a maximum of 80 min. The need for rescue medications, side effects, and subject satisfaction were recorded. QTc intervals were measured prior to and after treatment. Follow-up calls after 48 h assessed satisfaction and recurrent or persistent symptoms. RESULTS: Thirty-one subjects received haloperidol, 33 metoclopramide. The groups were similar on all VAS measurements, side effects, and in their satisfaction with therapy. Pain relief averaged 53 mm VAS over both groups, with equal times to maximum improvement. Subjects receiving haloperidol required rescue medication significantly less often (3% vs. 24%, p < 0.02). Mean QTcs were equal and normal in the two groups and did not change after treatment. In telephone follow-up, 90% of subjects contacted were "happy with the medication" they had received, with haloperidol-treated subjects experiencing more restlessness (43% vs. 10%). CONCLUSIONS: Intravenous haloperidol is as safe and effective as metoclopramide for the ED treatment of migraine headaches, with less frequent need for rescue medications.

Bacteriology of urinary tract infections in emergency patients aged 0-36 months.

BACKGROUND: Because urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most frequent source of serious bacterial infections in young children, we studied the bacteriology of such infections in our institution. OBJECTIVES: Pediatric urine cultures were reviewed for age- and sex-specific differences in testing, prevalence, causative organisms, and antibiotic sensitivities. METHODS: A retrospective 5-year observational study of all urine cultures from Emergency Department patients aged 0-36 months found 4403 cultures. Primary outcomes were numbers of cultures obtained, infections found, the organisms isolated, and their antibiotic sensitivities. RESULTS: Boys were cultured much less frequently (overall 4.7% vs. 19.4% of girls, p < 0.001). Three hundred ninety-six cultures yielded infection episodes. Although far fewer boys were cultured, their overall positive culture rate (10.9%) was significantly higher than for girls (8.4%; p = 0.01), with more Gram-positive organisms (52.3%; vs. 18.6% Gram-positives in girls; p < 0.001). The rate of positive cultures in boys and girls remained 8.4% and 10.3%, respectively, even in 2-year-olds. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid were effective against all isolates. CONCLUSIONS: Age- and sex-based assumptions guiding evaluation for and treatment of UTIs in young children should be reevaluated. We may not be culturing enough young boys, risking missed UTIs with potential for renal injury in this vulnerable group. Based on their significant rate of Gram-positive infections, those boys we treat empirically might benefit more from trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or amoxicillin/clavulanic acid than from third-generation cephalosporins. The persistence of positive cultures in 2-year-olds suggests we should be culturing beyond 24 months in both sexes. Urine Gram stains should be more frequently considered.

Acute lobar nephronia: a case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Patients with fever, vomiting, and abdominal pain commonly present to the emergency department, often generating a broad differential diagnosis. We describe the first reported case in the emergency medicine literature of acute lobar nephronia (ALN). OBJECTIVES: To describe the presentation, evaluation, and management of acute lobar nephronia. CASE REPORT: A healthy 27-year-old woman presented after 18 h of fever to 39.94°C (103.9°F), nausea, vomiting, and severe right-sided abdominal pain. Despite a normal urinalysis, a contrasted computed tomography scan of the abdomen and pelvis demonstrated right perinephric stranding, which was initially interpreted as pyelonephritis. A staff over-read the following day by a radiology body specialist confirmed "likely developing abscess," consistent with the diagnosis of acute lobar nephronia. CONCLUSION: A normal urinalysis may move clinicians to dismiss a nephrogenic or urologic process. ALN is considered a midpoint in the spectrum of upper urinary tract infections between acute pyelonephritis and intrarenal abscess. Diagnosis may be difficult, and inpatient management, sometimes prolonged, is the norm.

Rapid reversal of warfarin-associated hemorrhage in the emergency department by prothrombin complex concentrates.

Life-threatening warfarin-associated hemorrhage is common, with a high mortality. In the United States, the most commonly used therapies--fresh frozen plasma and vitamin K--are slow and unpredictable and can result in volume overload. Outside of the United States, prothrombin complex concentrates are often used instead; these pooled plasma products reverse warfarin anticoagulation in minutes rather than hours. This article reviews the literature relating to warfarin reversal with fresh frozen plasma, prothrombin complex concentrates, and recombinant factor VIIa and provides elements for a management protocol based on this literature.

Pertussis and persistent cough: practical, clinical and epidemiologic issues.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic issues of testing, treatment, prevention, immunization, mandated reporting, and post-exposure prophylaxis do not often intrude on the Emergency Department management of the well-appearing adolescent or adult with a couple of weeks of cough. OBJECTIVES: Considering that waning immunity to pertussis, the only vaccine-preventable disease with increasing cases and deaths in the United States, is responsible for 12-35% of such illness, such issues need to be considered. DISCUSSION: Mostly self-limited in adults, transmission of pertussis to infants places them at risk for hospitalization and death. Pertussis is highly contagious (80% transmission), and atypical presentations are the rule in adults (cough alone) and infants (apnea, bradycardia, poor feeding). Treatment in the first few weeks can impact the clinical course, and later treatment can still prevent transmission. Clinical features like paroxysmal cough, inspiratory "whoop," and post-tussive emesis have mildly increased predictive values and may be absent in adults. Testing is unreliable after 3 weeks of cough. Treatment reduces communicability within 5 days and is suggested without regard to test results within 3 weeks of cough onset for those aged > 1 year (within 6 weeks of cough for < 1 year). Reporting requirements are based on the clinical case definition: ([Cough ≥2 weeks] + [paroxysms OR whoop OR post-tussive emesis]). Lower reporting thresholds are appropriate during an outbreak or when vulnerable populations are at risk. Post-exposure prophylaxis is recommended for at-risk contacts. Tdap is encouraged for all adults. CONCLUSION: Practical recommendations consistent with the most current guidelines are offered.