Authors: Hendriksen JMT et al., BMJ 2015 Sep 8; 351:h4438 In the primary care setting, Wells and Geneva rules all performed well. How accurate are prediction rules, combined with point-of-care D-dimer testing, for ruling out pulmonary embolism (PE) in the primary care setting? In a systematic review followed by a validation study, researchers assessed five rules and specific […]
Read MoreAuthors: Wechsler ME et al., JAMA 2015 Oct 27; 314:1720 Tiotropium is not inferior to long-acting β-agonists for add-on asthma therapy. National asthma guidelines recommend long-acting β-agonists (LABAs) for patients whose asthma is not controlled by low-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS; J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007; 120:5 Suppl:S94); however, LABAs might be associated with risk for severe asthma exacerbations. […]
Read MoreAuthors: Gill JC et al., Blood 2015 Oct 22; 126:2038 Outcomes were excellent in 96.9% of bleeds in patients with severe disease. Patients with severe von Willebrand disease (VWD) have persistent, recurrent episodes of mucosal bleeding, menorrhagia, and bleeding with surgery or trauma. Treatment with plasma-derived von Willebrand factor (VWF) concentrates controls bleeding but exposes patients to […]
Read MoreAuthors: You-Ten KE et al., Anaesthesia 2015 Nov 70:1230 In laboring at-term patients, palpation of the cricothyroid membrane was less accurate in obese than in nonobese patients, whereas ultrasound identified the cricothyroid membrane in all patients. Obesity is a common marker of airway difficulty and may make a “can’t intubate, can’t oxygenate” scenario (and the need for […]
Read MoreAuthors: Felix Kork, MD et al Anesthesiology 12 2015, Vol.123, 1301-1311 Background: Surgical patients frequently experience postoperative increases in creatinine levels. The authors hypothesized that even small increases in postoperative creatinine levels are associated with adverse outcomes. Methods: The authors examined the association of postoperative changes from preoperative baseline creatinine with all-cause in-hospital mortality and hospital length of […]
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