Does this patient with a pericardial effusion have cardiac tamponade?

CONTEXT: Cardiac tamponade is a state of hemodynamic compromise resulting from cardiac compression by fluid trapped in the pericardial space. The clinical examination may assist in the decision to perform pericardiocentesis in patients with cardiac tamponade diagnosed by echocardiography. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the accuracy of the history, physical examination, and basic diagnostic tests for the diagnosis of cardiac tamponade. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE search of English-language articles published between 1966 and 2006, reference lists of these articles, and reference lists of relevant textbooks. STUDY SELECTION: We included articles that compared aspects of the clinical examination to a reference standard for the diagnosis of cardiac tamponade. We excluded studies with fewer than 15 patients. Of 787 studies identified by our search strategy, 8 were included in our final analysis. DATA EXTRACTION: Two authors independently reviewed articles for study results and quality. A third reviewer resolved disagreements. DATA SYNTHESIS: All studies evaluated patients with known tamponade or those referred for pericardiocentesis with known effusion. Five features occur in the majority of patients with tamponade: dyspnea (sensitivity range, 87%-89%), tachycardia (pooled sensitivity, 77%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 69%-85%), pulsus paradoxus (pooled sensitivity, 82%; 95% CI, 72%-92%), elevated jugular venous pressure (pooled sensitivity, 76%; 95% CI, 62%-90%), and cardiomegaly on chest radiograph (pooled sensitivity, 89%; 95% CI, 73%-100%). Based on 1 study, the presence of pulsus paradoxus greater than 10 mm Hg in a patient with a pericardial effusion increases the likelihood of tamponade (likelihood ratio, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.8-6.3), while a pulsus paradoxus of 10 mm Hg or less greatly lowers the likelihood (likelihood ratio, 0.03; 95% CI, 0.01-0.24). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with cardiac tamponade, a minority will not have dyspnea, tachycardia, elevated jugular venous pressure, or cardiomegaly on chest radiograph. A pulsus paradoxus greater than 10 mm Hg among patients with a pericardial effusion helps distinguish those with cardiac tamponade from those without. Diagnostic certainty of the presence of tamponade requires additional testing.

Pharmacologic therapy of portal hypertension.

Portal hypertension is a progressively debilitating complication of cirrhosis and a principal cause of mortality in patients who have hepatic decompensation. During the last few decades, significant clinical advances in the prevention of initial variceal hemorrhage, the management of acute variceal hemorrhage, and the prevention of recurrent variceal hemorrhage have reduced the morbidity and mortality of this lethal complication of cirrhosis. This article discusses the pharmacologic treatment of portal hypertension, including preprimary prophylaxis, prevention of a first variceal hemorrhage, treatment of acute variceal hemorrhage, and secondary prophylaxis of a variceal hemorrhage.

Neuropsychological functioning and its relationship to antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

While it is clear that central nervous system (CNS) lesions in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) adversely affect cognitive functioning, it is also evident that patients without visible lesions (non-CNS SLE) may also exhibit subtle cognitive impairment. The presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) has been proposed as a marker of disease severity and hence should be correlated with neuropsychological dysfunction in this population. The current study compared groups of non-CNS lupus patients who were positive (LA+) or negative (LA-) for aPLs on selected measures of neuropsychological functioning. In addition, we attempted to characterize the pattern of cognitive impairment that is associated with LA status in these patients. No coherent neuropsychological pattern emerged, but LA+ patients performed worse than LA- patients on measures assessing attention, concentration, and visual search, as well as spatial learning and memory.

Care at the end of life: a novel curriculum module implemented by medical students.

End-of-life (EOL) and palliative care education in medical school curricula stand at a crossroads. Consensus has emerged that these topics merit systematic instruction throughout medical school training, yet curricula all too often consist of sporadic lectures focused on bioethics instead of clinical skills. The medical student authors identified a deficit in their curriculum, and designed and implemented an EOL curriculum module for their colleagues. In early 2000 the authors surveyed senior medical students about their experiences with EOL and palliative education, identifying deficits in clinical training and recommendations for interventions. They then designed a case-based educational module to teach EOL communication skills to medical students commencing clinical training. Faculty with national and local experience with EOL and palliative care reviewed the curriculum. Twelve of these faculty were oriented to the curriculum and then taught it in pairs to groups of 12 to 16 medical students in 2000 and 2001. The curriculum develops skills, attitudes, and knowledge relevant for communicating bad news and establishing treatment options in the EOL setting by utilizing trigger videos, group discussion, role plays, and case discussions. Approximately 75% of the 86 eligible students attended the module in 2000 and 2001. Feedback has guided the curriculum's refinement by the medical student authors. In addition, a standardized patient exercise, introduced in 2001, allowed students to reinforce the skills learned during the module.

Sutural loosening and skeletal flexibility during growth: determination of drop-like shapes in sea urchins.

The shape of sea urchins may be determined mechanically by patterns of force analogous to those that determine the shape of a water droplet. This mechanical analogy implies skeletal flexibility at the time of growth. Although comprised of many rigid calcite plates, sutural collagenous ligaments could confer such flexibility if the sutures between plates loosened and acted as joints at the time of growth. We present experimental evidence of such flexibility associated with weight gain and growth. Over 13-, 4-, and 2-week periods, fed urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) gained weight and developed looser sutures than unfed urchins that maintained or lost weight. Further, skeletons of fed urchins force-relaxed more than did those of unfed urchins and urchins with loose sutures force-relaxed more than those with tight sutures. Urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) fed for two and a half weeks, gained weight, also had looser skeletons and deposited calcite at sutural margins, whereas unfed ones did not. In field populations of S. droebachiensis the percentage having loose sutures varied with urchin diameter and reflected their size-specific growth rate. The association between feeding, weight gain, calcite deposition, force relaxation and sutural looseness supports the hypothesis that urchins deform flexibly while growing, thus determining their drop-like shapes.