scholarly journals LO51: Does my dizzy patient need a computed tomography of the head?

CJEM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (S1) ◽  
pp. S26
Author(s):  
R. LePage ◽  
A. Regis ◽  
O. Bodunde ◽  
Z. Turgeon ◽  
R. Ohle

Introduction: Dizziness is among the most common presenting complaints in the emergency department (ED). Although the vast majority of these cases are the result of a benign, self-limiting process, many patients undergo computed tomography (CT) of the head. The objective of this study was to define the yield of and diagnostic accuracy of CT in dizziness in addition to defining high-risk clinical features predictive of an abnormal CT. Methods: At a tertiary care ED we performed a medical records review from Jan 2015-2018 including adult patients with a triage complaint of dizziness (vertigo, unsteady, lightheaded), excluding those with symptoms >14days, recent trauma, GCS < 15, hypotensive, or syncope/loss of consciousness. Five trained reviewers used a standardized data collection sheet to extract data. Our outcome was a central cause defined as: cerebrovascular accident (CVA), brain tumor (BT) or intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) diagnosed on CT or magnetic resonance imaging. Univariate analysis/logistic regression were performed and odds ratios reported. A sample size of 796 was calculated based on an expected prevalence of 5% with an 80% power and 95% confidence interval to detect an odds ratio greater than 2. Results: 2310 patients were recruited, 800 (35%) underwent CT head, 471(59%) female and a mean age of 62.8 years (+/−17.5 years). The top three diagnoses for patients undergoing CT were peripheral vertigo/benign positional vertigo (153 – 19%), vertigo not-otherwise-specified (137 – 17%) and dizziness not-otherwise-specified (137 – 17%). The number of CT scans considered abnormal was 30 (3.7%). The top three diagnoses for patients with an abnormal CT were CVA (22 – 75%), BT (9 – 26%) and ICH (6-17%). High risk clinical findings associated (p < 0.001) with an abnormal head CT were dysmetria, objective motor neurological signs, positive Rhomberg, ataxia and inability to walk 3 steps. Objective motor neurological signs (OR 8.4 [95% CI 3.27-21.72]) and ataxia (OR 3.4 [95% CI 1.62-7.41]) were both independently associated with an abnormal CT. Patients without any high risk findings on exam had a 0.7%(3/381 – 2 CVA,1 Tumour) probability of an abnormal CT. Sensitivity of CT for a central cause of dizziness was 71.43%(95%CI 55.4-84.3%), specificity 100%(95%CI 99.5-100%). Conclusion: Current rate of imaging in dizziness is high and inefficient. CT should be the first imaging test in those with high-risk clinical features, but a normal result does not rule out a central cause.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Kataoka ◽  
Yuya Kimura ◽  
Tatsuyoshi Ikenoue ◽  
Yoshinori Matsuoka ◽  
Junji Kumasawa ◽  
...  

Abstract Background We developed and validated a machine learning diagnostic model for novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, integrating artificial-intelligence-based computed tomography (CT) imaging and clinical features. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study in 11 Japanese tertiary care facilities that treated COVID-19 patients. Participants were tested using both real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and chest CT between January 1 and May 30, 2020. We chronologically split the dataset in each hospital into training and test sets, containing patients in a 7:3 ratio. Light Gradient Boosting Machine model was used for analysis. Results A total of 703 patients were included with two models — the full model and the A-blood model — developed for their diagnosis. The A-blood model included eight variables (the Ali-M3 confidence, along with seven clinical features of blood counts and biochemistry markers). The areas under the receiver-operator curve of both models (0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.86 to 0.95 for the full model and 0.90, 95% CI, 0.86 to 0.94 for the A-blood model) were better than that of the Ali-M3 confidence (0.78, 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.83) in the test set. Conclusions The A-blood model, a COVID-19 diagnostic model developed in this study, combines machine-learning and CT evaluation with blood test data and is better than the Ali-M3 framework existing for this purpose. This would significantly aid physicians in making a quicker diagnosis of COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei-Lei Wu ◽  
Jin-Long Wang ◽  
Wei Huang ◽  
Xuan Liu ◽  
Yang-Yu Huang ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of a novel computerized quantitative analysis based on histopathological and computed tomography (CT) images for predicting the postoperative prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 153 ESCC patients who underwent esophagectomy alone and quantitatively analyzed digital histological specimens and diagnostic CT images. We cut pathological images (6000 × 6000) into 50 × 50 patches; each patient had 14,400 patches. Cluster analysis was used to process these patches. We used the pathological clusters to all patches ratio (PCPR) of each case for pathological features and we obtained 20 PCPR quantitative features. Totally, 125 computerized quantitative (20 PCPR and 105 CT) features were extracted. We used a recursive feature elimination approach to select features. A Cox hazard model with L1 penalization was used for prognostic indexing. We compared the following prognostic models: Model A: clinical features; Model B: quantitative CT and clinical features; Model C: quantitative histopathological and clinical features; and Model D: combined information of clinical, CT, and histopathology. Indices of concordance (C-index) and leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) were used to assess prognostic model accuracy.ResultsFive PCPR and eight CT features were treated as significant indicators in ESCC prognosis. C-indices adjusted for LOOCV were comparable among four models, 0.596 (Model A) vs. 0.658 (Model B) vs. 0.651 (Model C), and improved to 0.711with Model D combining information of clinical, CT, and histopathology (all p<0.05). Using Model D, we stratified patients into low- and high-risk groups. The 3-year overall survival rates of low- and high-risk patients were 38.0% and 25.0%, respectively (p<0.001).ConclusionQuantitative prognostic modeling using a combination of clinical data, histopathological, and CT images can stratify ESCC patients with surgery alone into high-risk and low-risk groups.


CJEM ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (S1) ◽  
pp. S109-S109
Author(s):  
R. Tam ◽  
K. McGregor ◽  
A. Maneshi ◽  
H. Gangatharan ◽  
M. Woo ◽  
...  

Introduction: Aligning health systems appropriately to the needs of the elderly is an urgent global priority, according to the WHO. In Canada, ED length of stay has risen 16% for elderly patients in the last year. Agitation requiring chemical restraint is a common, high-risk problem for elderly in the ED. Improving outcomes in this heterogeneous population remain difficult due to inability to effectively identify and evaluate delirium, frailty, multi-morbidity, and incompatibility with the ED system. A data-driven approach to complex health problems is a recognized emerging tool for healthcare innovation. New opportunities for targeted quality improvement in the ED will be uncovered by identifying the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with agitation, and the system process factors that influence their outcomes. Methods: We studied 400 patients in a case-control study at two tertiary-care EDs over five years. Patients were randomly selected if age was greater than 75 years. 200 cases of patients who received an intravenous dose of haloperidol, midazolam and/or lorazepam were selected as a surrogate data marker for having agitation. Controls were randomly matched by age and ED diagnosis. Standardized clinical, systems and process variables were collected. We conducted a univariate analysis. Results: Elderly given intravenous medications for agitation had increased mortality (OR 3.8 CI: 1.6-10.7, p<0.001) and ED length of stay (27 vs. 15 hours, p<0.001). No statistical significance was found in clinical characteristics, CTAS scores, PRISMA7 frailty scores nor sentinel or return visits. There was no statistical difference in median hospital length of stay (8 vs. 6 days, p<0.70). No differences were found in median time from ED physician seeing a patient to first consultant request (73 vs. 83 mins, p=0.75). The largest time intervals contributing to ED length of stay were from first consultant request to hospital request (15 vs. 12 hours, p=0.056) and hospitalization delay (13 vs. 7 hours, p=0.45). Conclusion: Identification of high-risk elderly patients for targeted intervention through a data-driven approach is feasible and informative. Traditional clinical characteristics remain unhelpful in identifying and evaluating outcomes in elderly with agitation. We have identified a process factor that is clinically relevant and pragmatic to evaluate in our ED system. Future research focused on optimizing systems process factors to improve quality of elderly care should be prioritized.


2017 ◽  
Vol 08 (01) ◽  
pp. 064-067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh Kumar Mishra ◽  
Ashok Munivenkatappa ◽  
Vasuki Prathyusha ◽  
Dhaval P. Shukla ◽  
Bhagavatula Indira Devi

ABSTRACT Background: Indication of a head computed tomography (CT) scan in a patient who remains conscious after head injury is controversial. We aimed to determine the clinical features that are most likely to be associated with abnormal CT scan in patients with a history of head injury, and who are conscious at the time of presentation to casualty. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observation study of patients presented to casualty with history of head injury, and who were conscious, i.e., Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 15 at the time of evaluation. All patients underwent head CT scan. The CT scan was reported as abnormal if it showed any pathology ascribed to trauma. The following variables were used: age, gender, mode of injury (road traffic accident, fall, assault, and others), duration since injury, and history of transient loss of consciousness, headache, vomiting, ear/nose bleeding, and seizures. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the clinical features that predicted an abnormal CT scan. Results: During the observation period, a total of 1629 patients with head injury were evaluated, out of which 453 were in GCS 15. Abnormal CT scan was present in 195 (43%) patients. Among all the variables, the following were found significantly associated with abnormal CT scan: duration since injury (>12 h) P < 0.001; vomiting odds, ratio (OR) 1.89 (1.23, 2.80), P < 0.001; and presence of any symptom, OR 2.36 (1.52, 3.71), P < 0.001. Conclusion: A patient with GCS 15 presenting after 12 hours of injury with vomiting or combination of symptoms has a significant risk of abnormal head CT scan.


Neurosurgery ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 576-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. Pritchard ◽  
Robert A. Martinez ◽  
Douglas G. Hungerford ◽  
James M. Powers ◽  
Phanor L. Perot

Abstract Dural plasmacytoma is an unusual form of myeloma. We describe a woman with plasmacytoma of the tentorium cerebelli that was managed successfully with surgical decompression and radiotherapy. Computed tomography, not previously reported in cases of dural plasmacytoma, was useful in her management. Another unique feature was the restoration of a normal immunoglobulin G content in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid after local treatment of the neoplasm. Two previously reported cases showed similar normalization of cerebrospinal fluid immunoglobulin G after local radiotherapy. Dural plasmacytoma presents a characteristic clinical syndrome. The typical patient is a woman (92% of the reported cases) in the 5th decade of life. Clinical findings reflect intracranial hypertension, often with focal neurological signs, consistent with the usual dural or tentorial origin of the tumor. Immunoglobulin abnormalities may be found in serum or cerebrospinal fluid. The prognosis is good after surgical decompression and local radiotherapy.


2002 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sy Choi ◽  
Tw Wong ◽  
Cc Lau ◽  
E Liang ◽  
Yk Fu ◽  
...  

Objective 1) To study the current use of abdominal X-rays (AXR) in our emergency department (ED). 2) To evaluate the clinical predictors for positive AXR findings. Methods During the 40 days study period, all patients who had taken abdominal X-rays were included. The attending doctor filled in a questionnaire on demographic data, clinical features and outcome. The three radiologists who participated in this study reported the films and consultant emergency physicians then commented on the appropriateness of the request. The clinical features, which were predictive of positive radiological findings, were sorted out using univariate analysis. Results 64 patients were included in the 40 days study period. The rate for AXR request was 3.4 per 1000 patients. The most common presenting complaints were abdominal pain (85.9%) and constipation (45.3%). The most frequent clinical findings were abdominal distension (35.9%) and hyperactive bowel sound (31.3%). Only two of the clinical features, including vomiting and rebound tenderness, were found to have significant correlation with positive X-ray findings. Most of the AXR requests and interpretations by ED doctors were considered to be appropriate.


Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 114 (22) ◽  
pp. 4841-4841
Author(s):  
Silvia M.M. Magalhães ◽  
Rosane Bittencourt ◽  
Elvira Velloso ◽  
Maria de Lourdes Chauffaille ◽  
Alita Andrade Azevedo ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 4841 Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of acquired clonal stem cell disorders that mainly affect the elderly population, characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis and high risk of leukemic transformation. MDS are heterogeneous in terms of morphology, clinical features and survival. An increasing body of work reveals that there might be differences in clinical features between Asian and Western cases. Japanese patients seem to be younger, have a lower frequency of refractory anemia (RA) with ringed sideroblast (RARS) and a higher frequency of RA, according to FAB classification, as well as different prognostic factors such as the frequency of cytogenetic abnormalities. Incidence rates for MDS in Brazil are unavailable. The purpose of the study was to obtain epidemiological data of MDS adult patients who presented from January 2003 to December 2007 in 10 Brazilian tertiary-care hematology centers from different regions of the country. Patient data collected by participating physicians were entered and stored with the use of an internet-based, data collection tool. Blood counts, bone marrow aspiration, trephine biopsy and chromosomal study were recorded. Survival was estimated through Kaplan-Meier method and the difference between survival curves was assessed by means of Log-Rank Test. Death incidence rates were estimated and compared. Statistical analyses of relevant variables were performed. Three hundred and forty three patients with diagnosis of MDS according to FAB/WHO classification were included in this retrospective analysis. The mean age at presentation was 68 years (range 17 to 98). Fifty percent of cases were male. Cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse and pesticide/herbicide exposure were reported in 33.5%, 13.4% and 14.3% respectively. Median hemoglobin was 8.7 g/dL, median neutrophils count was 1,575/mm3 and median platelets count was 97,000/mm3. There was no excess of blasts in 68.4% of cases. Bone marrow biopsy was performed in 78.5% of patients. Lymphoid nodules were seen in 11.3% and any degree of fibrosis in 28.6%. Cytogenetic analysis was performed in 67.8% of cases and showed chromosomal abnormalities in 50.5%. The del(5q) isolated or combined with other alterations were observed in 6.0%. Flow cytometry analysis for CD55 and CD59 was performed in 11,3% and was normal in 97,4%. Near 8% of cases were classified as secondary MDS. The distribution of disease subtypes according to FAB classification was: RA 42,3%, RARS 9,0%, RA with excess of blasts (RAEB) 20,7%, RAEB-t 4,2% and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) 3,9%. According to IPSS patients were stratified as low-risk (low risk plus intermediate I) 55,9% and high risk (intermediate II and high risk) 13,1%. In 30,1% no stratification was possible. In 26,5% of cases iron overload was diagnosed although only 28,3% of cases had performed serum ferritin. The follow-up time ranged from 1 to 78 months (mean: 28 months). Thirty-six percent of patients died and the death was MDS-related in 68.3% of cases. The high and low risk survival curves were significantly different (p<0,001), and, the death incidence rate (per 1000 person.month) was 8,7 (95% CI: 6,6-11,4) and 29,1 (95% CI: 19,5-43,4) for the low and high-risk group respectively. This clinical registry of adult Brazilian MDS patients represents a unique opportunity to gain insight about these disorders and its demographic and clinical features and provide an important baseline for future studies. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed ◽  
Yushui Han ◽  
Mahmoud Al Rifai ◽  
Talal Alnabelsi ◽  
Faisal Nabi ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose: Cardiac computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) - derived measures of coronary artery disease (CAD) burden such as segment involvement score (SIS), which quantifies the number of segments with plaque, have been shown to independently predict incident cardiovascular events. We aimed to compare the added prognostic value of plaque burden to CCTA anatomic assessment and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) physiologic assessment in a high-risk cohort undergoing both tests.Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent clinically indicated CCTA and SPECT myocardial imaging for suspected CAD at a tertiary care cardiology practice were included. Stenosis severity and SIS were determined from CCTA, and presence of ischemia was determined from SPECT. Patients were followed for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, inclusive of all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting 90-days after imaging test.)Results: A total of 956 patients were included. Mean age was 61.1 ± 14.2 years, 54% were men, 89% had hypertension, 81% had diabetes, 84% had dyslipidemia and 56% had recorded chest pain. Obstructive stenosis (left main ≥ 50%, all other coronary segments ≥ 70%) and ischemia were observed in similar number of patients (14%). After a median follow-up of 31 months, 102 patients (11%, 29.2 events per 1000 person-year) experienced a MACE. In multivariable Cox regression models, SIS significantly predicted outcomes and improved risk discrimination in models with CCTA obstructive stenosis (HR 1.15 95% CI 1.09 - 1.21 p= <0.001; Harrel’s C 0.74, p=0.008) and SPECT ischemia (HR 1.14 95% CI 1.08 - 1.20, p<0.001; Harrel’s C 0.76, p=0.019). Results were consistent using subgroups by plaque composition (calcified vs non-calcified) and lower thresholds of CCTA stenosis. Conclusion: Our results suggest that in high-risk patients with suspected CAD, plaque burden adds incremental prognostic value over established measures in predicting incident cardiovascular outcomes.


CJEM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (S1) ◽  
pp. S43-S44
Author(s):  
B. Paige ◽  
A. Maeng ◽  
D. Savage ◽  
R. Ohle ◽  
MBBCh MA

Introduction: Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) is a rare clinical syndrome with a high mortality encompassing acute aortic dissection, intramural hematoma and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer. Up to 38% of cases are misdiagnosed on first presentation. There is a large variation in use of computed tomography to rule out AAS. The Canadian clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis of AAS was developed in order to reduce the frequency of misdiagnoses. As part of the guideline, a clinical decision aid was developed to facilitate clinician decision-making based on practice recommendations. Our objective was to validate the sensitivity of this clinical decision aid. Methods: Our validation cohort was recruited from a retrospective review of all cases of AAS diagnosed at three tertiary care emergency departments and one cardiac referral center from 2002-2019. Inclusion criteria: >18 years old, non-traumatic, symptoms <14 days and AAS confirmed on computed tomography, transesophageal echocardiography, intraoperatively or postmortem. The clinical decision aid assigns an overall score of 0-7 based on high risk pain features, risk factors, physical examination and clinical suspicion. Sensitivity with 95% confidence intervals are reported. Based on a national survey, a miss rate of <1% was predefined for the validation threshold. Results: Data was collected from 2002-2019 yielding 222 cases of AAS (mean age of 65 (SD 14.1) and 66.7% male). Kappa for data abstraction was 0.9. Of the 222 cases of AAS (type A = 125, type B = 95, IMH = 2), 35 (15.7%) were missed on initial assessment. Patients were risk stratified into low (score = 0, 2 (0.9%)) moderate (score = 1, 42 (18.9%)) and high risk (score ≥2,178 (80.2%)) groups. A score ≥1 had a sensitivity of 99.1% (95% CI 96.8-99.9%) in the detection of AAS. The clinical decision aid missed 0.9% (95% CI 0.3-3%) of cases. Conclusion: The Canadian clinical practice guideline's AAS clinical decision aid is a highly sensitive tool that uses readily available clinical information. Although the miss rate was <1%, the 95% confidence intervals crossed the predefined threshold. Further validation is needed in a larger population to ensure the miss rate is below an acceptable level.


Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Author(s):  
Claudia Lucia Sossa ◽  
Virginia Abello ◽  
Angela María Peña ◽  
Luis Antonio Salazar ◽  
Manuel Rosales ◽  
...  

Introduction: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a varied group of clonal myeloid neoplasms characterized by cytopenias and an increased risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia. Prognosis is variable, but little is known about the clinical features of MDS in the Colombian population. The diverseness of the disease and changes in standardized diagnostic criteria throughout the years have hinder accurate case detection and epidemiologic evaluation of MDS in our population. Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the clinical characteristics and evaluate the overall survival (OS) of patients with MDS treated at two large referral centers in Colombia. Methods: An observational, retrospective study was conducted at two tertiary care centers in Colombia. Patients diagnosed with MDS at Clinica FOSCAL and Hospital San Jose between June 2013 and June 2019 were selected. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze baseline demographic characteristics and clinical data such as disease classification, risk stratification, and treatment. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to assess overall (OS) at 1, 3 and 5 years. Results: A total of 96 patients were included. Median age at diagnosis was 75 years (range 31-104). Fifty-two (54.2%) patients were male. According to the 2016 World Health Organization classification of MDS, the most commonly diagnosed subtype was MDS with multilineage dysplasia (31.2%), followed by MDS with excess blasts (13.5%); however, 35.4% of patients had an unclassifiable MDS sub-type. Twenty-nine (31.2%) patients were screened for cytogenetic abnormalities, the most common chromosomal abnormalities were deletion in the long arm of chromosome 5 (4.2%) and deletion of 7q (2.1%). Therapy related MDS was diagnosed in 13 (13.5%) patients and secondary MDS associated to pesticides exposure in 2 (2.1%) patients. After stratifying patients by the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS), the majority of patients were in the intermediate risk group, with 21 (34.4%) and 16 (26.2%) patients in the intermediate-1 and intermediate-2 categories respectively. Almost 80% of the patients presented one or more comorbidities, the most common was cardiac disease (30.5%). Supportive care with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents was the most common first-line treatment (61.4%), followed by iron chelation therapy (6.2%). Forty-eight (50%) patients were treated with hypomethylating agents (HMA), 43.7% receiving azacytidine and 6.3% decitabine. Among HMA-treated patients, 49.6% were in the intermediate-2 and high-risk IPSS groups. Two patients underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Only patients treated with HMA and cytarabine/idarubicin chemotherapy achieved a complete response (11.5%). OS at one- and five-years post-diagnosis was 73.4% and 40.7% (95%CI 62.4-81.6 and 27.1-53.9) respectively. Patients in the intermediate-2 and high-risk IPSS groups had lower survival rates compared to those in the low and intermediate-1 risk groups. The OS for patients treated with azacytidine was 77.2% (95%CI 60.7-87.5%) at one-year, 43.2% (95%CI 23.9-61.1%) at three-years, and 37.8% (95%CI 19.0-56.5) at five-years after diagnosis. The most common cause of death was infection (51.3%), followed by disease progression (24.3%). Conclusions: The OS of patients with MDS in our study is similar to the reported in the existing literature. Knowing the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, risk stratification, and disease outcomes of MDS patients in our population is crucial to decide the best treatment strategies and improve the clinical outcomes of our patients. Disclosures Sossa: Roche: Honoraria; Astellas: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Novo: Honoraria. Abello:Dr. Reddy's: Consultancy, Research Funding; Takeda: Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Abbvie: Consultancy, Research Funding. Peña:Roche: Honoraria. Salazar:Novartis: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria. Sandoval-Sus:Celgene: Speakers Bureau; Massive Bio: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; MorphoSys US: Consultancy.


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