Tactical Medicine News Blog

Take Home Points: Hypothermia is neuroprotective and patients can survive prolonged periods of cardiac arrest. Termination of resuscitative efforts in cardiac arrest should not considered until the patient is >32°C or has a K > 12 mEq/L Active internal rewarming is the keystone of treatment for unstable hypothermic patients. Utilize available resources including ECMO to effectively warm your patient Consider alternate causes for hypothermia, especially in patients who fail to respond to warming

In this podcast episode of the SAEM Research Learning Series, Drs. Mary and Nate Haas interview Daren M. Beam, MD MS (Indiana University) talk about his research career. Listen to this episode which is chock full of practical pearls to help you get ahead with submitting a winning abstract for a scientific meeting or conference. As a bonus, you will also hear behind-the-scenes stories about how the PE Rule-out Criteria (PERC) rule came to be while he was a research coordinator before medical school. Did you know that it was originally nicknamed the “PE Pink Sheet”?

Background: The use of intravenous lidocaine for analgesia in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with renal colic has gained recent traction and interest, and was previously explored on the REBEL EM blog. Literature has been mixed, with one trial (Soleimanpour 2012) demonstrating analgesic benefit, but two smaller trials (Firouzian 2016) (Motamed 2017) finding no such role for IV lidocaine. Nonetheless, uptake has been brisk (Fitzpatrick 2016). The authors of this study (The LIDOKET Trial) sought to better define the utility of IV lidocaine for the treatment of renal colic.

The following ultrasound video was obtained in a hypotensive 23 year-old man with a history of drug abuse. What drug of abuse when used chronically is most likely to lead to this ultrasound finding in an otherwise healthy patient?

Background: The 2014 AHA guidelines for the management of NSTEMI, recommend unfractionated heparin with an initial loading dose of 60IU/KG (maximum 4,000 IU) with an initial infusion of 12 IU/kg/hr (maximum 1,000 IU/hr) adjusted per active partial thromboplastin time to maintain therapeutic anticoagulation according to the specific hospital protocol, continued for 48 hours or until PCI is performed (Level of Evidence B) [2]. With even a higher level of evidence the 2014 AHA guidelines for the management of NSTEMI, also recommend enoxaparin 1mg/kg subcutaneously every 12 hours with reduced dosing to 1mg/kg subcutaneously in patients with a creatinine clearance <30mL/min) (Level of Evidence A) [2].  The studies supporting this therapy were performed primarily on patients with a diagnosis of unstable angina and in the era before dual anti platelet therapy and early catheterization/revascularization. Therefore, the authors of this paper looked to evaluate the clinical outcomes associated with parenteral anticoagulation therapy (Heparin) in the era of dual anti-platelet therapy in patients with NSTEMI.