Continuing onward with the top ten articles presented at the recent AAP NCE in San Diego is a randomized control trial comparing lorazepam versus diazepam for pediatric status epilepticus. Links PubMed JAMA The bottom line Lorazepam and diazepam are equally efficacious and safe choices for the [...]
The pupils can be thought of as a window to the brain in patients with altered mental status. This brief video reviews some of the important findings that you should recognize.
Check out this brief lecture I recently gave on altered mental status. It reviews terminology, diagnosis and management and is designed as a broad overview to one of the most challenging issues to evaluate in the Pediatric Emergency Department.
Certainly we've all taken care of of the patient with the chief complaint "possible seizure." Upon history and examination many of us will discover that the patient had syncope. So, the purpose of this post is to examine how we differentiate between convulsions in a [...]
In the ED we certainly see a significant number of head injuries. There are an estimated 1.7 million per year in the US. Fortunately most of these are not associated with intracranial bleeding. However, that certainly does not mean that there aren't important diagnoses to consider. [...]
This edition of PEM Currents focuses on the use of antiemetics to treat status migrainosus in the Pediatric ED. Prochlorperazine and Metoclopramide are safe and effective agents with a low incidence of self limited side effects that when given in combination with ketorolac result in [...]
In the Pediatric ED we encounter post-LP headache (PLPHA) less frequently than our colleagues who take care of grown ups. Nonetheless, it is an important topic to review. This post focuses specifically on caffeine, though before moving on to the not-quite Starbucks sponsored portion of [...]
Many of treat migraines in the ED. I even discussed the use of Depakote recently. I figured for installment #2 of the WWDWWD series I'd take a step back and discuss the first line IV treatment for refractory migraines in the ED. Before I do [...]
Many a migraine headache is encountered in the ED. The evidence is reasonably clear that the antiemetics (prochlorperazine/metoclopramide - Compazine/Reglan) combined with ketorolac (Toradol) will treat >90% of patients effectively. What about those that don't respond and are still in (dramatic pause) status migrainosus. The [...]
No, this edition of Briefs was not an excuse to use a tongue twister as the title. It is however viral season. An viruses can cause (through some undetermined mechanism) a condition called acute cerebellar ataxia which generally occurs in children less than 5 years of [...]