Foreign Bodies in the Ear and Nose a True Test of EP Mettle
Pediatric patients frequently put foreign bodies into their mouths, noses, and ears. The spectrum of foreign bodies that children place into their facial orifices are impressive. Paper, vegetable matter (such as peanuts), toys, beads, metal screws, and Play-Doh are just a few examples.The insertions are often done surreptitiously, only to be discovered days or sometimes weeks later. Occasionally, the retained foreign nasal bodies will ferment and present with a purulent, unilateral nasal drainage, accompanied by an unrelentingly repulsive odor. Sometimes an occasional cockroach wanders into the external auditory canal l...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - November 1, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Susanne: Goodbye, gluten-free
It’s no exaggeration to say that lives are transformed by the Wheat Belly lifestyle. Look what happened to Susanne after her health was ruined by being gluten-free, reversed by following the Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox.
Food manufacturers, out of ignorance or ruthless profiteering, have chosen to replace wheat and gluten with cornstarch, rice flour, tapioca starch, or potato starch—among the few foods that provoke high blood sugar and insulin more than even our favorite grain to bash, wheat. It means that people who are gluten-free and consume such garbage replacement products gain weight in visceral inflamm...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - August 12, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates Detox gluten-free grain-free grains Inflammation Weight Loss Source Type: blogs
Illustrated Guide to ECG Interpretation
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Book Review: Sparkson’s Illustrated Guide to ECG Interpretation
Everything you need for easy ECG interpretation! Packed with vital information, Sparkson’s Illustrated Guide to ECG Interpretation is an electrocardiography reference unlike any other. The book’s format is both innovative and captivating, ensuring that readers retain a wealth of practical knowledge for accurate ECG interpretation. With crystal-clear text and incredibly entertaining illustrations, you...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 20, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Lowri Bowen Tags: Book Review ECG interpretation Jorge Muniz Sparkson Source Type: blogs
Why you should think twice about prescribing antibiotics
A meme forwarded to me last year showed a chimp with the caption: “Monkey trained to dispense Z-Paks at urgent care.”
As one of the medical directors for a multi-office urgent care practice, one of the tasks is performing a chart review. One of the patterns we see too often is ubiquitous Z-Pak prescriptions for purported cough, sore throat, sinusitis and even an allergic rhinitis this last batch. Z-Paks are one of my pet peeves and, other than trying to put my five-year-old daughter to bed at night, are the only things that will give me palpitations and make my right eye twitch only the way a Red Bull-laced study marat...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 3, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/rich-rodriguez" rel="tag" > Rich Rodriguez, MD < /a > Tags: Meds Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs
The unscientific lure of antibiotics
Although my father did not discover penicillin, he helped do the research showing its effectiveness in curing infective endocarditis. As an internist, he then became enamored with the role antibiotics could play in treating infections. Growing up, my siblings and I can attest to his unbridled enthusiasm, as every time we contracted a cold, we would get a shot of the wonder mold in our butts. The fact that colds were caused by viruses and not bacteria did little to dissuade him from the utility of the treatment. When I finally developed a rash after another shot, I celebrated the fact that the painful solution would never e...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 22, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/david-mokotoff" rel="tag" > David Mokotoff, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Infectious Disease Primary Care Source Type: blogs
S.T.Stent Keeps Sinus Cavity Supported Post Surgery for Nearly a Month
STS Medical, a company based in Israel, won FDA clearance for its sole product, the S.T.Stent sinus stent. The composite device is indicated for treatment of chronic sinusitis, as part of Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS), to help keep the sinus cavity open post surgery. It can also be used to address nose job failures, chronic allergic rhinitis, as an option over sinuplasty.
The device is flexible and conforms to the sinus cavity of the patient it’s placed in, relying on a balloon delivery system for expansion. Once positioned, it’s designed to anchor in place and not move around. It is then left w...
Source: Medgadget - January 9, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: ENT Source Type: blogs
LITFL Review 312
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Welcome to the 312nd LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the blogosphere’s best and brightest and deliver a bite-sized chunk of FOAM.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beauts of the Week
SGEM often posts thoughtful “skeptical” reviews on logical-sounding procedures a...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - December 25, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Marjorie Lazoff, MD Tags: Education LITFL review Source Type: blogs
Cavernous Sinus Thrombosis: Case Report
Discussion by Dr MGK Murthy, Dr GA Prasad Cavernous sinus is extradural venous plexus surrounded by a dural fold in the middle cranial fossa containing internal carotid artery with its periarterial sympathetic plexus, abducens nerve lateral to the internal carotid artery, but medial to the oculomotor and trochlear nerves and the ophthalmic and maxillary divisions of the trigeminal nerve, which run superior to inferior within the lateral dural border of the cavernous sinus. Thrombosis of the cavernous sinus is usually caused by bacterial or fungal invasion comp...
Source: Sumer's Radiology Site - November 14, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Sumer Sethi Source Type: blogs
The challenge of “ evidence based ” sore throat guidelines
CONCLUSION Although the evidence for the management of acute sore throat is easily available, national guidelines are different with regard to the choice of evidence and the interpretation for clinical practice. Also a transparent and standardized guideline development method is lacking. These findings are important in the context of appropriate antibiotic use, the problem of growing antimicrobial resistance, and costs for the community.
We assume that the word “evidence” is all inclusive. How can 9 guidelines on one subject differ significantly? The first problem occurs in selecting the evidence. Like ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - October 23, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 205
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 205.
Question 1
Meigs’ Syndrome resolves after removal of the tumour. What is the classic triad of Meigs’ Syndrome?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
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The...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - September 15, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis Argyll Robertson aspergilloma aspergillus Calabar extrinsic allergic alveolitis invasive aspergillosis kartagener's syndrome liver Loa loa worms Meigs syndrome ocular oa Source Type: blogs
Podcasting with the Curbsiders – please listen!
I just had the great honor of being a repeat guest for the Curbsiders. Published today, we discuss #54: Upper Respiratory Infections: Coughs, colds, gargling, and antibiotic underuse?!
Regular readers can probably imagine my comments. I mostly focused attention on defining when upper respiratory infections are not routine. As I have written previously, while we do not want to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics, we also do not want to withhold necessary antibiotics. My concern with most guidelines and algorithms is the lack of specificity in defining routine bronchitis, sinusitis or pharyngitis in the context of the ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - August 28, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Guidelines – a major problem
Guidelines are wonderful; guidelines are dangerous. Over the past decade I have thought often about the benefits and the problems.
The first concept that attracted my attention was reading about conflicting guidelines. Given the same data, different guideline committees would have significantly different recommendations. At the least this problem raises questions about guideline validity. It makes clear that committee perspective could influence recommendations. Guideline recommendations sometimes are clear and demonstrably evidence based, but too often recommendations reflect the committee’s view of the pr...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - July 24, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Keep your seasonal allergies in check
Seasonal allergies can be frustrating. When spring crawls in, many people begin to experience all-too-familiar itchy and watery eyes, runny nose, and congestion. Symptoms of seasonal allergies are the result of an immune system in overdrive in response to pollen and other allergens. Those bothersome symptoms are intended to protect you from unwanted foreign particles, but in this situation they end up causing misery. There are quite a few options when it comes to controlling allergy symptoms, but we want to watch out for a few that can be quite dangerous when used incorrectly.
Nasal steroids
The first-line treatment for se...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 1, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dominic Wu, MD Tags: Asthma and Allergies Ear, nose, and throat Health Source Type: blogs
Does telemedicine save or cost money?
Over 1 million virtual doctor visits were reported in 2015. Telehealth companies have long asserted that increased access to physicians via video or phone conferencing saves money by reducing office visits and Emergency Department care. But a new study calls this cost savings into question. Increased convenience can increase utilization, which may improve access, but not reduce costs.
The study has some obvious limitations. First of all, it followed patients who used one particular telehealth service for one specific cluster of disease (“respiratory illness”) and narrowed the cost measure to spending on that condition ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 24, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/val-jones" rel="tag" > Val Jones, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Telehealth: Cost Saver or Cost Driver?
Over 1 million virtual doctor visits were reported in 2015. Telehealth companies have long asserted that increased access to physicians via video or phone conferencing saves money by reducing office visits and Emergency Department care. But a new study calls this cost savings into question. Increased convenience can increase utilization, which may improve access, but not reduce costs.
The study has some obvious limitations. First of all, it followed patients who used one particular telehealth service for one specific cluster of disease (“respiratory illness”) and narrowed the cost measure to spending on that co...
Source: Better Health - April 7, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Opinion Costs DocTalker eDocAmerica Health Insurance HSA Outpatient Medicine Telehealth Telemedicine Source Type: blogs
