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Useless ECG?

A 67 y/o man arrives to the ED by ambulance because of precordial pain since half an hour, during the transport, paramedics perform an ECG that shows a left bundle branch block (LBBB), that patient refers in his history. They find it unuseful and so they do not transmit it to the cardiologist, is it…

ByIlenia Spallino15 January 20130Comments

Chest

Atypical or typical, is this the question?

I t is a busy day in your ED: A 60 y/o female refers a retrosternal pain radiates to right arm that lasts more than 20 minutes. A 50 y/o male refers a pressure in his chest, with tachycardia and sweating. A 75 y/o female refers a sharp and stabbing pain exacerbates by forceful breathing.…

ByCiro Paolillo8 December 20120Comments

Chest

Can we fight against Pulmonary Embolism using the LR’s arrows?

A 80 y/o woman presented to the ED for dyspnoea. She underwent a knee replacement 2 weeks ago, RR is 24, O2 saturation is 88%. HR is 90, the knee is edematous. You are going to hunt a pulmonary embolism (PE) While you phone the radiologist for a thorax CT scan you have an idea:…

ByCiro Paolillo31 October 20120Comments

Chest

What does it hide behind a negative X-Ray?

A 33 y/o woman, comes to the ED because of a sudden emithorax pain on the left in basal region. The pain is described as stabbing, well localized, it worsen with inspirium …a pleuritic pain, no cough, no fever, not hemoptysis. She smokes, she does not take any medication. Chest x ray is normal.…

ByIlenia Spallino27 October 20120Comments

Chest

Pleuritic pain and radio-occult lesion

A 33 y/o woman, comes to the ED because of a sudden emithorax pain localized on the left in basal region. The pain is described as stabbing, well localised, it worsen with inspirium …a pleuritic pain, no cough, no fever, not hemoptysis. She smokes, she does not take any medication. Chest x ray is normal.…

ByIlenia Spallino11 October 20120Comments

Chest

Chest X-Ray and aortic dissection

A 70 yo man come to the ED for restrosternal chest pain and shortness of breath during minimal activity in the last days. He is an ex smoker, with a history of hypertension. On physical examination the patient is not in distress, with a regular blood pressure and regular oximetry. ECG shows no evidence of…

ByCiro Paolillo28 June 20120Comments

Chest

How LR works. Why any test is unnecessary for a patient with very low-risk chest pain?

A 40 yo truck driver, presented in ED with substernal chest pain. He is healthy, no family history of CAD. Held for observation, serial ECG have not modified, not elevated troponin. Is an Exercise Treadmill Testing useful (ETT)? Or a Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI) is better? The pretest probability of CAD in this…

ByCiro Paolillo1 May 20120Comments

Chest

D-dimer and Aortic dissection

It’s 3.00 am when a 55 yo man is accompained to the ED by his wife because of sudden onset precordial pain, he has not clinical history, he does not smoke and he has an active life style, you find a normal blood pressure and clinical examination and a normal ECG, but the pain is…

ByIlenia Spallino17 May 20110Comments