No Ordinary Coronary: A Case Series of Two Large Coronary Artery Aneuryms Found on Chest X-Ray.

BACKGROUND: Post-procedural coronary aneurysms can have high morbidity and mortality. Although found more commonly on ultrasound or computed tomography imaging, if large enough, they may appear on chest x-ray studies. CASE REPORTS: We present two cases of coronary artery aneurysm visible on chest x-ray study-one originating from a saphenous vein graft and the other a left anterior descending artery pseudoaneurysm 1 week post heart catheterization. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: It is important for emergency physicians to recognize abnormal chest x-ray studies and to look for post-procedural complications, such as coronary artery aneurysm. Coronary artery aneurysm can be a potentially life-threatening condition requiring prompt recognition and surgical consultation.

Successful Treatment of Antihypertensive Overdose Using Intravenous Angiotensin II.

BACKGROUND: Despite multiple treatment options, antihypertensive overdose remains a cause of significant morbidity and mortality. Intravenous angiotensin II (AG II) is approved for use in vasodilatory shock. We describe 2 cases of refractory shock from antihypertensive overdose that were successfully treated using AG II. CASE REPORTS: A 24-year-old female presented after an overdose of multiple antihypertensive medications, including an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI). She developed hypotension that was refractory to norepinephrine, epinephrine, and vasopressin, with a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 57 mm Hg 9 h after emergency department arrival. Fifteen minutes after starting AG II at 10 ng/kg/min, her heart rate and MAP rose by 7 beats/min and 12 mm Hg, respectively. Her hemodynamic parameters continued to improve thereafter. She developed acute kidney injury, which resolved prior to discharge. The second patient, a 65-year-old male, presented after an overdose of multiple antihypertensive medications, including an ACEI. Despite norepinephrine, epinephrine, and hyperinsulinemia-euglycemia, he remained bradycardic and hypotensive, with a heart rate of 47 beats/min and MAP of 59 mm Hg. Thirty minutes after starting AG II at 10 ng/kg/min, his heart rate was 61 beats/min and MAP was 66 mm Hg. He recovered without apparent sequelae. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Antihypertensive overdose can lead to shock refractory to catecholamine and vasopressin therapy. Our experience suggests that AG II is efficacious in antihypertensive overdose and may be particularly efficacious in instances of ACEI overdose. However, further study is required to confirm the appropriate indication(s).

Caution with interpreting laboratory results after lipid rescue therapy.

Intravenous lipid rescue therapy (LRT) may be implemented to attenuate drug toxicity. Little is known about LRT interference with laboratory tests in overdose settings. A 54-year-old man with a history of depression consumed unknown amounts of diphenhydramine, amitriptyline, and acetaminophen (APAP). Initial workup showed aspartate aminotransferase (AST) of 138 U/L, APAP of 177 µg/mL, and a QRS interval of 136 milliseconds. N-acetylcysteine, sodium bicarbonate, and 20% intravenous LRT were initiated. Laboratory test results drawn less than 6 hours later showed an APAP level of 44 µg/mL and an undetectable AST (Siemens Vista 1500 analyzer, lower limit of detection: alanine aminotransferase, 6 U/L; AST, 3 U/L). N-acetylcysteine and LRT infusions were stopped. Eight hours later, serum AST was measured at 488 U/L and increased over the next 2 days to a peak of 1600 U/L before recovery. Given a gradually rising course of AST following APAP ingestion, a single undetectable measurement is highly unlikely and probably erroneous. For this Siemens analyzer, serum lipid concentrations greater than 400 mg/dL cause interference with the AST measurement. Because lipid levels greater than 400 mg/dL with other similar analyzers are known to falsely decrease the AST, it is possible that extreme lipemia caused this laboratory result; a triglyceride level of 3648 mg/dL has been reported after LRT infusion. This conclusion is limited by the lack of repeat measurement of liver enzymes or measurement of serum lipid levels. Lipid rescue therapy may cause lipemia that interferes with the assay for liver enzymes. Suspected abnormal laboratory values should be repeated, or other techniques can be used to remove lipemic interference.

Electrocardiographic manifestations of cardiac infectious-inflammatory disorders.

Inflammatory disorders of the heart, although uncommon in the general population, often present initially to the emergency department. Symptoms and clinical manifestations are shared with other more common cardiopulmonary diseases, particularly acute coronary syndrome and congestive heart failure, making prompt diagnosis challenging. This review will highlight some of the clinical and electrocardiographic features that will help early diagnosis and differentiation of inflammatory cardiac disorders from other more common conditions.

Manual transmission enhances attention and driving performance of ADHD adolescent males: pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Inattention is a major contributor to driving mishaps and is especially problematic among adolescent drivers with ADHD, possibly contributing to their 2 to 4 times higher incidence of collisions. Manual transmission has been demonstrated to be associated with greater arousal. This study tests the hypotheses that manual transmission, compared to automatic transmission, would be associated with better attention and performance on a driving simulator. METHOD: Ten adolescent drivers with ADHD practice driving on the simulator in the manual and automatic mode. Employing a single-blind, cross-over design, participants drive the simulator at 19:30 and 22:30 hr for 30 min in both transmissions and rate their attention to driving. RESULTS: Subjectively, participants report being more attentive while driving in manual transmission mode. Objectively, participants drive safer in the manual transmission mode. CONCLUSION: Although in need of replication, this pilot study suggests a behavioral intervention to improve driving performance among ADHD adolescents.

Efficacy of Trypsin in Treating Coral Snake Envenomation in the Porcine Model.

Antivenom is the definitive treatment for venomous snakebites. Alternative treatments warrant investigation because antivenom is sometimes unavailable, expensive, and can have deleterious side effects. This study assesses the efficacy of trypsin to treat coral snake envenomation in an in vivo porcine model. A randomized, blinded study was conducted. Subjects were 13 pigs injected subcutaneously with 1 mL of eastern coral snake venom (10 mg/mL) in the right distal hind limb. After 1 min, subjects were randomized to have the envenomation site injected with either 1 mL of saline or 1 mL of trypsin (100 mg/mL) by a blinded investigator. Clinical endpoint was survival for 72 h or respiratory depression defined as respiratory rate <15 breaths per minute, falling pulse oximetry, or agonal respirations. Fisher's exact t test was used for between group comparisons. Average time to toxicity for the saline control was 263 min (191-305 min). The development of respiratory depression occurred more frequently in control pigs than treated pigs (p = 0.009). Four of the six pigs that received trypsin survived to the end of the 3-day study. No control pigs survived. Two of the trypsin treatment pigs died with times to toxicity of 718 and 971 min. Survival to 12 and 24 h was significantly greater in the trypsin treatment group (p = 0.002, p = 0.009, respectively). Local injection of trypsin, a proteolytic enzyme, at the site of envenomation decreased the toxicity of eastern coral snake venom and increased survival significantly. Further investigation is required before these results can be extended to human snakebites.

A randomized controlled trial of trypsin to treat brown recluse spider bites in Guinea pigs.

Brown recluse spider bites result in necrotic skin lesions for which there is no known antidote. Since venom toxins are proteins, a proteolytic enzyme like trypsin might be effective in reducing toxicity. The aim of this study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial of trypsin to treat brown recluse spider bites in guinea pigs. Subjects were 18 female guinea pigs. Anesthesia for injections was inhaled isoflurane. Analgesia was 0.05 mg/kg of buprenorphine twice a day as needed. Intervention was intradermal injection of 30 µg of brown recluse venom (Spider Pharm, Yarnell, AZ). Immediately after envenomation, subjects were randomized to two groups of nine: trypsin 10 µg in 1 mL normal saline and 1 mL of normal saline. The primary outcome was lesion area over a 10-day time period. Statistical analysis was performed with repeated measures ANOVA. Mean lesion area was smaller but not statistically different in the placebo group. Maximum lesion size occurred at day 4 in both groups, when lesion area was 76.1 ± 108.2 mm(2) in the placebo group and 149.7 ± 127.3 mm(2) in the treatment group. P value was 0.15 for placebo vs. treatment. This study did not establish a role for trypsin as a treatment for brown recluse spider bites in a guinea pig model.

Fentanyl-associated fatalities among illicit drug users in Wayne County, Michigan (July 2005-May 2006).

BACKGROUND: During the summer of 2005, multiple cities in the United States began to report outbreaks of fentanyl-associated fatalities among illicit drug users. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine if an outbreak of fentanyl-associated fatalities occurred in mid-2005 to mid-2006 and (2) to examine trends and compare features of fentanyl-contaminated heroin-associated fatalities (FHFs) with non-fentanyl, heroin-associated fatalities (NFHFs) among illicit drug users. METHODS: Baseline prevalence of fentanyl- and heroin-associated deaths was estimated from January to May 2005 based on recorded cause of death (determined by the medical examiner (ME)) using the Wayne County, MI, USA toxicology database. The database was then queried for both FHFs and NFHFs between July 1, 2005 and May 12, 2006. A FHF was defined as having fentanyl or norfentanyl (metabolite) detected in any postmortem biological sample and either (1) detection of heroin or its metabolite (6-acetylmorphine) and/or cocaine or its metabolite (benzoylecgonine) in a postmortem biological specimen or (2) confirmation of fentanyl abuse as the cause of death by the ME or a medical history available sufficient enough to exclude prescription fentanyl or other therapeutic opioid use. A NFHF was defined as detection of heroin, 6-acetylmorphine (heroin metabolite) or morphine in any postmortem biological specimen, heroin overdose listed as the cause of death by the ME, and absence of fentanyl detection on postmortem laboratory testing. Information was systematically collected, trended for each group and then compared between the two groups with regard to demographic, exposure, autopsy, and toxicology data. Logistic regression was performed using SAS v 9.1 examining the effects of age, gender, and marital status with fentanyl group status. RESULTS: Monthly prevalence of fentanyl-associated fatalities among illicit drug users increased from an average of two in early 2005 to a peak of 24 in May, 2006. In total, 101 FHFs and 90 NFHFs were analyzed. The median age of decedents was 46 and 45 years for the fentanyl and non-fentanyl groups, respectively. Fentanyl-contaminated heroin-associated fatalities (FHFs) were more likely to be female (p = 0.003). Women aged over 44 years (OR = 4.67;95 % CI = 1.29-16.96) and divorced/widowed women (OR = 14.18;95 % CI = 1.59-127.01) were more likely to be FHFs when compared to women aged less than 44 years and single, respectively. A significant interaction occurred between gender and age, and gender and marital status. Most FHFs had central (heart) blood samples available for fentanyl testing (n = 96; 95 %): fentanyl was detected in most (n = 91; 95 %). Of these, close to half had no detectable heroin (or 6-acetylmorphine) concentrations (n = 37; 40.7 %). About half of these samples had detectable cocaine concentrations (n = 20; 54 %). Median fentanyl concentration in central blood samples was 0.02 µg/ml (n = 91, range <0.002-0.051 µg/ml) and 0.02 µg/ml (n = 32, range <0.004-0.069 µg/ml) in peripheral blood samples. The geometric mean of the ratio of central to peripheral values was 2.10 (median C/P = 1.75). At autopsy, pulmonary edema was the most frequently encountered finding for both groups (77 %). CONCLUSION: Illicit drugs may contain undeclared ingredients that may increase the likelihood of fatality in users. Gender differences in fentanyl-related mortality may be modified by age and/or marital status. These findings may help inform public health and prevention activities if fatalities associated with fentanyl-contaminated illicit drugs reoccur.