Biomedical subjects

David Della-Giustina

Publications and source records attributed to David Della-Giustina.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Transfusion-acquired babesiosis in a nonendemic area.

Babesiosis is a tick-borne illness endemic to the coastal areas of southern New England. Despite the enormous safety measures that transfusion and blood bank services perform for each product, transfusion of blood products is not without risk. The majority of transfusion-related reactions and complications are recognized soon after transfusion. We report a case of transfusion-acquired babesiosis in Washington State that presented 4 weeks after transfusion of a blood product from a donor living in a babesiosis-endemic area.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

"I can't taste ice cream": an unusual case of tinnitus and dysgeusia.

Auricular foreign bodies are usually presented to the emergency department in an easily recognizable fashion. We report the case of a 16-year-old male who presented to the emergency department with complaints of unilateral tinnitus and dysgeusia. He denied any history of injury except for falling from his bike in the woods earlier that day. On examination, a wooden foreign body was found in the external auditory canal. A computed tomography scan revealed a 3-cm-long twig that pierced the middle ear disrupting the ossicles. He was taken to the operating room for removal and microscopic evaluation. On evaluation, the chorda tympani nerve was found to be severed along with disruption of the ossicles. This is an unusual presentation for an aural foreign body, and the resulting injury of the chorda tympani is not well published. One should consider the possibility of injury to the middle and inner ear and perform the necessary clinical evaluation before and after removal of aural foreign bodies.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Ectopic pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancy is a high-risk diagnosis that is increasing in frequency and is still commonly missed in the emergency department. The emergency physician needs a high index of suspicion and must understand that the history, physical examination, and a single quantitative beta-hCG level cannot reliably rule out an ectopic pregnancy. Most pregnant patients who present to the emergency department during the first trimester with abdominal or pelvic pain, regardless of the presence of vaginal bleeding, should undergo further evaluation with ultrasonography. Ultrasound findings in conjunction with quantitative beta-hCG levels guide the management of the patient.

Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal↗