Computerized Tomographic Coronary Angiography for the Evaluation of ED Patients with Potential Acute Coronary Syndromes

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Computerized Tomographic Coronary Angiography for the Evaluation of ED Patients with Potential Acute Coronary Syndromes

The diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) represents one of the most difficult tasks facing clinicians in the acute care environment. In this EMCREG-International Newsletter, Drs. Judd Hollander and Howard Litt describe an important new modality for visualizing the coronary artery anatomy in patients with possible ACS – using 64-slice multidetector computed tomography coronary angiography.

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Hypertension Management in Acute Neurovascular Emergencies

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Hypertension Management in Acute Neurovascular Emergencies

For patients with acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage, appropriate treatment is based on understanding the complex pathophysiology of these disease processes as well as the characteristics of the drugs used to treat hypertension in these individuals. In this clinical update newsletter, Dr. Arthur Pancioli expands the knowledge base of emergency physicians and all clinicians treating these critically-ill patients will improve outcome.

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Lactate – A Marker for Sepsis and Trauma

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Lactate – A Marker for Sepsis and Trauma

While lactate testing has been in medical arena for over a century, its utility in the emergency department for the evaluation of these potentially critically ill patients is only now being recognized. In this newsletter Andra L. Blomkalns, MD aims to review the present literature on lactate testing in the clinical environment as it pertains to its use for emergency department patients.

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Point-of-Care Testing for Cardiac Biomarkers in the ED: A Blueprint for Implementation

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Point-of-Care Testing for Cardiac Biomarkers in the ED: A Blueprint for Implementation

The development of a POC testing program will require collaboration between emergency physicians and cardiologists, laboratorians, and hospital administrators. As the individual POC tests often cost more than the batch run central laboratory assays, determining the cost effectiveness of POC testing requires an understanding of how faster results can decrease time to disposition from the emergency department and speed the delivery of guideline-based therapies to patients with ACS.

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Cardiovascular and Neurovascular Emergencies and Point-of-Care Testing

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Cardiovascular and Neurovascular Emergencies and Point-of-Care Testing

The Emergency Medicine Cardiac Research and Education Group (EMCREG)-International is pleased to present this monograph representing the proceedings of our satellite symposium at the ACEP Scientific Assembly in Washington, DC, in late September of 2005. In this monograph, you will find a variety of important topics covered including the CRUSADE Quality Improvement Initiative, clopidogrel’s use in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, low molecular weight heparins in acute coronary syndromes, dyslipidemia, diagnosis and treatment on acute decompensated heart failure, evaluation of pulmonary embolism, cardiac biomarkers in point-of-care testing, the Stroke Center certification concept, evaluation of transient ischemic attacks, and the role of serum biomarkers in the diagnosis of stroke.

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Use of NT-ProBNP in the Emergency Department Evaluation of Shortness of Breath: Implications for Clinical Practice

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Use of NT-ProBNP in the Emergency Department Evaluation of Shortness of Breath: Implications for Clinical Practice

In this EMCREG-International newsletter, Sean P. Collins, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at University of Cincinnati, OH discusses incidence of heart failure has been rising over the last decade as more patients survive significant myocardial infarction, as well as other diseases which compromise the heart. All clinicians who care for these patients must be aware of the many diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to these often critically-ill patients. NT-proBNP provides an important diagnostic and prognostic test for these heart failure patients.

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