Contributor: Michael Hunt, MD Educational Pearls: Contrast agents are commonly used for X-rays and CT’s to better characterize disease, but contrast doesn’t work with MRI. That’s where the element Gadolinium comes into play. Gadolinium, element 64, is ferromagnetic (attracted to iron) below 68 degrees and above that temperature it’s paramagnetic which makes it useful in…
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Meet Michelle Whaley, Clinical Nurse Specialist and Stroke Program Coordinator at Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, Colorado. Jordan and Michelle discuss advances in Artificial Intelligence technology in an app that uses algorithms to analyze CT Angiograms to alert physicians of patients with images concerning for Large Vessel Occlusions (LVOs). Listen as they discuss…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls:. Focused assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) exam and the extended-FAST (eFAST) are essential components of current trauma care and evaluation There has been an accumulation of research to provide an estimate of effectiveness of identifying certain injuries with ultrasound: For identifying a pneumothorax, the sensitivity ~70% and specificity…
Read MoreContributor: Don Stader, MD Educational Pearls: COVID-19 commonly appears as a bilateral patchy infiltrate on chest radiograph, but this is a non-specific finding Sensitivities range from 17-70% for COVID-19 Many other viral pneumonias such as RSV and influenza can have similar findings Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) demonstrates B-lines, water-fall sign, or hepatization of the lung, but…
Read MoreDr. Vivek Tayal of Carolinas Medical Center, a pioneer of using ultrasound in the emergency department, reflects on his role in establishing ultrasound use in emergency medicine and much more! Ultrasound Program Management: https://www.amazon.com/Ultrasound-Program-Management-Point-Care/dp/3319631411 Intro Music: Backbay Lounge Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Read MoreAuthor: Don Stader, MD Educational Pearls: Recent meta-analysis has demonstrated that there is no significant risk for kidney injury from CT contrast Most kidney injury seen after contrast CTs were due to other underlying illnesses (sepsis, hypovolemia, etc.) Older contrast agents likely did have nephrotoxic effects but this appears to be a thing of…
Read MoreAuthor: Sam Killian, MD Educational Pearls: MRI machines can generate enough heat from the radiofrequency to cause thermal burns Patients with EKG stickers, medication patches, clothing impregnated with metallic ions, etc., can all increase risk of burns Even skin-to-skin contact within the patient can cause a misinterpretation from the software and increased energy, leading to…
Read MoreAuthor: Chris Holmes, M.D. Educational Pearls The nexus chest CT scan rule is based on an 11,000 subject, multicenter study that looked for signs following a trauma that predicted significant findings on subsequent chest CT. Findings that were associated with abnormal chest CT included: abnormal CXR, distracting injury, chest wall, sternal, thoracic spine or scapular…
Read MoreAuthor: Dylan Luyten, M.D. Educational Pearls Around 30% of patients in the ER receive CT imaging, and the sensitivity of CT imaging may be improved with IV contrast. However, contrast is often withheld for fear of contrast-induced nephropathy. A recent, single-center, retrospective cohort study compared the rates of nephropathy between contrast CT, non-contrast CT, and…
Read MoreAuthor: Peter Bakes, M.D Educational Pearls Intracerebral hemorrhage is an intracranial bleed within the brain tissue or ventricles. Subarachnoid aneurysm causes about 50% of all ICH. Amyloid deposition can lead to ICH in elderly patients. Hypertension is another common cause of atraumatic ICH, commonly leading to pontine, cerebellar, or basal ganglial bleeding. Bleeding in other…
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