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Biomedical subjects

A J Singer

Publications and source records attributed to A J Singer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Percutaneous regional compared with local anaesthesia for facial lacerations: a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Facial lacerations are usually repaired after local infiltration of an anaesthetic agent. Regional nerve blocks of the face offer several theoretical advantages over local infiltration. This study compared the pain of injection and anaesthetic efficacy of percutaneous regional and local anaesthesia for facial lacerations. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of emergency department patients with facial lacerations requiring suturing in anatomical areas innervated by a regional nerve (supraorbital, infraorbital, or mental). INTERVENTIONS: Facial lacerations treated using standard wound care. Lacerations were randomised to local or regional infiltration of lidocaine (lignocaine) 1% with adrenaline (epinephrine) 1:100 000 using a number 27 needle. OUTCOMES: Pain of injection on 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) and need for rescue anaesthetic infiltration before suturing. DATA ANALYSIS: Group comparisons were with Student's t test and chi(2) test. This study had 80% power to detect a 20 mm difference in pain of injection (two tailed, alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: 36 patients were randomised to local (18) and regional (18) anaesthesia. Mean (SD) age was 20 (14); 19% were female. Groups were similar in baseline characteristics. Patients in the regional anaesthesia group experienced more pain during infiltration than patients in the local anaesthesia group (42.4 mm v 24.8 mm, mean difference 17.6 mm (95% CI 0.3 to 35.6 mm) and were more likely to require additional infiltration of a local anaesthetic (28% v 0%, (95% CI 6% to 50%)) than patients in the local anaesthetic group. CONCLUSIONS: Local infiltration of anaesthetics for facial lacerations is less painful and results in more effective anaesthesia than percutaneous regional infiltration.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Bone marrow fat and bone mineral density on proton MR spectroscopy and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry: their ratio as a new indicator of bone weakening.

OBJECTIVE: Bone weakening can be affected by agents other than bone mineral density (BMD). Increased bone marrow fat may have a direct link to bone loss. This pilot study analyzes the relationship between bone marrow fat and BMD in subjects with normal and structurally weakened vertebrae. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-six subjects underwent both dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and proton MR spectroscopy of 71 lumbar vertebrae. Fifteen subjects had normal-appearing vertebrae on MRI, and 11 had signs of bone weakening. RESULTS: We found that high bone marrow fat did not consistently equate with low BMD. Bone marrow fat can indicate bone weakening nearly as well as BMD, but neither parameter alone is suitable to be used independently as an indicator. The bone marrow fat/BMD ratio showed significant diagnostic power to detect bone weakening, even in this relatively small subject sample. CONCLUSION: An inverse relationship between bone marrow fat and BMD could not be confirmed. Bone marrow fat can be used to diagnose reduced bone strength nearly as well as BMD. The bone marrow fat/BMD ratio is a significant diagnostic indicator of bone weakening.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed2001

Risk factors for infection in patients with traumatic lacerations.

BACKGROUND: Most of our knowledge of laceration management comes from studies in animal models or patients with closure of sterile postoperative surgical incisions. Traumatic laceration management has not been well studied. OBJECTIVE: To determine which characteristics of traumatic lacerations were associated with the development of wound infection. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of consecutive patients with traumatic lacerations repaired over a four-year period was conducted. Structured closed-question data sheets were prospectively completed at the time of laceration repair and suture removal. Infection was determined at the time of suture removal. Multivariate modeling was used to determine the adjusted odds ratio (OR) of infection. RESULTS: Five thousand five hundred twenty-one patients were enrolled; 195 patients developed an infection (3.5%). An increased likelihood of wound infection was associated with age (adjusted OR per year, 1.01; 95% CI = 1.0 to 1.02); history of diabetes mellitus (adjusted OR 6.7; 95% CI = 1.7 to 26.4); laceration width (adjusted OR 1.05 per mm; 95% CI = 1.02 to 1.08); and presence of foreign body (adjusted OR 2.6; 95% CI = 1.3 to 5.2). Laceration location on the head/neck was associated with a decreased risk of infection (adjusted OR 0.28; 95% CI = 0.18 to 0.45). CONCLUSIONS: Both patient and wound characteristics of traumatic lacerations have an influence on the likelihood of infection. This knowledge may be valuable for determining whether various methods of wound cleansing, debridement, and repair can improve the outcome of patients with traumatic lacerations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Etomidate for pediatric sedation prior to fracture reduction.

OBJECTIVE: While etomidate is reported as a procedural sedative in adults, its use in children has not been extensively reported. The authors describe their experience with etomidate for procedural sedation in children with extremity fractures and major joint dislocations. METHODS: This was a retrospective descriptive chart review. The setting was a university-based emergency department (ED) that follows national guidelines for procedural sedation. Subjects were children less than 18 years old who received etomidate prior to fracture reduction or major joint dislocations. Standardized data were abstracted from the medical records, including patient demographics, diagnosis, weight, types and doses of sedative and analgesic agents used, number of boluses of etomidate, attempts at reduction, complications encountered, vitals signs before, during, and after the reduction, disposition, and the time from procedure to discharge. Descriptive statistics calculated included means and proportions with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Fifty-three children received etomidate for fracture reduction. Their mean age was 9.7; 41.5% were females. Indications for reduction included forearm fractures (38), ankle fractures (12), upper arm fractures (2), and hip dislocations (1). In most cases (83%) reduction was successful after one attempt only. The mean initial and total doses of etomidate were 0.20 mg/kg (range, 0.1 to 0.4) and 0.24 mg/kg (range, 0.13 to 0.52), respectively. Thirteen patients required a second bolus of etomidate or midazolam. Thirty-four patients (64%) were discharged from the ED after a mean observation of 94 minutes (range, 35 to 255). There were no major adverse events (95% CI = 0% to 5.7%). One patient reported nausea and one required a fluid bolus for hypotension. One patient receiving multiple sedatives and opioid analgesics was admitted for observation due to prolonged sedation. No patient required assisted ventilation or intubation. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that etomidate is a safe and effective agent for procedural sedation in children requiring fracture and major joint reductions.

Child↗
PubMed2001

LET versus EMLA for pretreating lacerations: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the anesthetic efficacy of EMLA cream (eutectic mixture of local anesthetics) with that of LET solution (lidocaine, epinephrine, tetracaine) for pretreating lacerations prior to lidocaine injection. METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blind clinical trial in a convenience sample of 60 patients aged 1 to 59 years with traumatic lacerations. Eligible wounds were uncomplicated, clean lacerations < or = 6 hours old. Finger and toe lacerations were excluded. At the time of initial presentation to triage, patients were randomized to LET or EMLA. A nurse applied the topical anesthetic into the laceration with a 5-mL syringe. A physician assessed the laceration edges for the presence of blanching and adequacy of anesthesia to a 27-gauge needlestick. Supplemental lidocaine was then infiltrated through the wound edges and the pain of infiltration was recorded by the patient (or guardian) on a 100-mm visual analog scale marked "most pain" at the high end. A sample of 44 patients had 90% power to detect a 20-mm difference in injection pain (two-tailed alpha = 0.05). RESULTS: Sixty patients were randomized to LET (29) or EMLA (31). Median age was 8.5 years; 23% were female. Most lacerations were facial and closed with sutures. There was no difference in baseline characteristics between groups. More wounds treated with LET were anesthetic to a needlestick than wounds treated with EMLA (73% vs 40%, p = 0.01); however, there was no between-group difference in the median pain of lidocaine infiltration (LET-12 mm vs EMLA-13 mm, p = 0.89). CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment of simple lacerations with LET or EMLA at the time of patient presentation results in similar amounts of pain of subsequent local infiltration of lidocaine

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Magnetically guided orotracheal intubation.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a novel endotracheal intubation technique, magnetically guided intubation (MGI), and its rate of success in inexperienced medical students and interns using an airway mannequin model. METHODS: This was a prospective, descriptive study of 25 medical students and interns participating in an introductory course on emergency medicine without prior experience in human orotracheal intubation. Magnetically guided intubation consists of a strong external magnet placed over the cricothyroid membrane to guide the introduction of a standard endotracheal tube containing a stylet with a magnetized tip. An airway mannequin was placed in a rigid cervical spinal collar to increase the difficulty of the intubation, and each student performed two sequential intubation attempts using MGI. The proportions of successful intubations and the time to complete intubation were determined. Descriptive statistics were used to describe point estimates and 95% confidence intervals for means and proportions of continuous and categorical data, respectively. RESULTS: Of 25 participants, 19 were students and six were interns. Their mean age was 27 years, and 76% were male. The overall proportion of successful intubations using MGI was 80% (95% CI = 69% to 91%). Of 24 intubations, 48% were attempted without visualization of the vocal cords; 67% were successful (95% CI = 46% to 87%). The mean time required to complete intubation was 17.0 seconds (95% CI = 14.5 to 19.5 seconds). CONCLUSIONS: A novel method of orotracheal intubation using magnetic guidance is described as achieving a high rate of successful intubations when performed by inexperienced intubators.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Ability of patients to accurately recall the severity of acute painful events.

OBJECTIVE: Pain studies require prospective patient enrollment to ensure accurate pain assessment. The authors correlated pain assessments of an acute painful episode over a one-week period and determined the accuracy of patient pain severity recall over time. METHODS: This was a prospective, descriptive, longitudinal study. Participants were a convenience sample of 50 emergency department patients with acute pain resulting from injuries or painful invasive procedures. A trained research assistant administered a structured pain survey containing demographic and historical features to all patients. Patients sequentially assessed their pain severity using a vertical 100-mm visual analog scale marked "most pain" at the top, a verbal numeric rating scale ranging from 0 to 100 from none to worst (NRS100), and a verbal numeric rating scale ranging from 0 to 10 from none to worst (NRS10). Patients were contacted by phone and asked to reassess their initial pain severity one and seven days later using the two verbal numeric rating scales. Analysis of pain assessments using the various scales at the three time intervals was performed with Pearson's and Spearman's coefficients and repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). RESULTS: There were 50 patients with a mean age of 41 years. Correlation between initial pain assessments on the three scales ranged from 0.83 to 0.92. Correlations between the initial and 24-hour assessments were NRS100-0.98 and NRS10-0.98. Correlations between the initial and one-week assessments were NRS100-0.96 and NRS10-0.97. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed no significant change in pain assessments over time for both verbal numeric scales. CONCLUSIONS: Pain severity assessments of acute painful events one and seven days later were similar and highly correlated with initial assessments using both verbal numeric scales. Patients accurately recall the severity of an acute painful episode for at least one week after its occurrence, which may allow retrospective pain assessments.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2000

Use of alternative therapies among emergency department patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess emergency department patients' use of alternative therapies. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional observational survey of a convenience sample of ED patients. A trained research assistant administered a written questionnaire asking patients about alternative therapies. RESULTS: Of the 139 patients surveyed, 78 (56%) had tried alternative therapies in the past, 68 (87%) of whom believed that they were effective. The most frequently tried alternative therapies were massage therapy (31%), chiropractic (30%), herbs (24%), meditation (19%), and acupuncture (15%). Most patients (70%) who tried alternative therapies did not inform their physicians of such practice. CONCLUSION: Most ED patients in our sample had tried alternative therapies and among these patients, most did not inform their physicians. Herbal therapy in particular had been tried by about 1 in 4 patients. Emergency physicians should routinely question their patients regarding the use of alternative therapies, particularly herbal preparations, which may cause adverse effects.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Octylcyanoacrylate versus polyurethane for treatment of burns in swine: a randomized trial.

In order to determine whether the enhanced reepithelialization of second-degree burns treated with octylcyanoacrylate (OCA) was due to its occlusive nature we compared reepithelialization (REP) and infection rates of second degree burns treated with OCA and polyurethane film (Tegaderm) in swine. Forty-four standardized partial thickness burns were created by applying an aluminum bar preheated to 80 degrees C to the backs of pigs for 20 s and randomly treated with OCA or Tegaderm. Full thickness biopsies were taken at 7, 10 and 14 days for blinded histopathological evaluation of rates of infection and reepithelialization. T-tests and chi(2) tests were used for group comparisons. There were no between group difference in the rates of reepithelialization and infection. All wounds were reepithelialized by day 14 and there were no infections in either group. We conclude that treatment of partial thickness burns with OCA spray or Tegaderm results in similar rates of reepithelialization and infection, suggesting that the beneficial effects of OCA on reepithelialization are due to its occlusive nature.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Patient priorities with traumatic lacerations.

Clinical trials should use outcomes that are important to patients. We sought to determine the aspects of laceration management that are most important to patients. A prospective observational survey was conducted at one suburban and one urban university ED during November to December 1998 that included ED patients and visitors with and without current or prior lacerations. Trained research assistants approached 747 people of which 724 (97%) completed a 25-item closed question survey that evaluated demographics, prior laceration repairs, and assessed the relative importance of least painful repair, ED length of stay, cosmetic outcome, functional recovery, practitioner compassion, avoidance of wound infection, total costs, and missed days of work or school using a five-item Likert scale (not important-extremely important). Additionally, the relative importance of these items was compared. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Seven hundred twenty-four people participated; 383 (53%) had prior lacerations; 92 (14%) had lacerations at the time of the survey. The most important aspect of care for respondents were normal function (28%), avoiding infection (20%), cosmetic outcome (17%), and least painful repair (17%). Based on Likert scale data, most important aspects of care were: avoiding wound infection (mean [95% CI], 4.58 [4.52 to 4.64]), normal function (4.54 [4.48 to 4.6]), cosmetic outcome (3.78 [3.68 to 3.88]), and least painful repair (3.84 [3.76 to 3.92]). Cost, length of stay, missed work/school, and compassion were less important (range, 3.0 to 3.7). Patients with facial lacerations chose cosmetic outcome as the most important aspect of care while all others chose function. Patients prioritize the medical outcomes of laceration repair (function, avoiding infection, cosmesis, pain) more than cost, compassion, ED length of stay and inconvenience (missed work/school). Cosmetic outcome is particularly important to patients with facial lacerations. This information should be useful when designing outcome studies of laceration management.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The primary care of women with chronic renal disease.

Nephrologists are often responsible for the primary care of their female patients with chronic renal disease. As such, they must be cognizant of medical issues that are unique to women. Awareness and implementation of routine health care maintenance and cancer screening recommendations are essential. The provision of reproductive health services, which includes menstrual history assessment, contraception counseling, and services relating to child bearing and sexual functioning, is also necessary. Menopausal health concerns and hormone replacement therapy are frequently overlooked and need to be addressed. In general, the primary care of women with chronic renal disease is similar to that of women without renal disease and should adhere to current standards of preventive care.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2000

Ceruminolytic effects of docusate sodium: a randomized, controlled trial.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Assessment of the tympanic membrane is often impeded by the presence of cerumen. We compared the ceruminolytic effects of triethanolamine polypeptide and docusate sodium in patients with cerumen. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind trial on a convenience sample of cooperative adult and pediatric patients presenting to a university-based emergency department who required removal of cerumen to visualize the tympanic membrane. Structured data collection was performed, and the physician determined whether visualization of the tympanic membrane was partially or totally obscured by cerumen (interobserver agreement, rho=0.79). Patients received intra-aural instillation of 1mL of either docusate sodium or triethanolamine polypeptide in a liquid form. If not completely cleared within 15 minutes, the external ear canal was irrigated with 50 or 100 mL of normal saline solution and additional attempts to visualize the tympanic membrane were made. The main outcome was the proportion of ears in which the tympanic membrane could be totally visualized after ceruminolytic instillation with or without irrigation. This study had 80% power to detect a 40% difference between groups in the proportion of totally visualized tympanic membranes (chi(2) test, alpha=.05). RESULTS: Of 50 enrolled patients, 23 received triethanolamine polypeptide and 27 received docusate sodium. Mean patient age was 40 years (range 1 to 81 years); 35% were female. Groups were similar in age, sex, and proportion of completely obscured tympanic membranes at presentation (78%). The ability to completely visualize the tympanic membrane was significantly greater after treatment with docusate sodium versus triethanolamine polypeptide (81% versus 35%; difference in proportions 47%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 22 to 71) particularly in children aged 5 or less (90% versus 0%; difference in proportions 89%; 95% CI 50 to 100). CONCLUSION: Docusate sodium solution is a more effective ceruminolytic than triethanolamine polypeptide, allowing complete or partial visualization of the tympanic membrane in most patients after a single application when followed with irrigation. Use of docusate sodium as a ceruminolytic should be encouraged, particularly in children.

Administration, Topical↗