Emergency reversal of anticoagulation: from theory to real use of prothrombin complex concentrates. A retrospective Italian experience.

Background: Prothrombin Complex Concentrates (PCC) are administered to normalise blood coagulation in patients receiving oral anticoagulant therapy (OAT). Rapid reversal of OAT is essential in case of major bleeding, internal haemorrhage or surgery.The primary end-point was to evaluate whether PCC in our hospital were being used in compliance with international and national guidelines for the reversal of OAT on an emergency basis.

Lung ultrasound: a new tool for the emergency physician.

Patients with dyspnea are routinely assessed with physical examination, lung auscultation and chest X-rays. Auscultation and bedside radiography have a low accuracy in the critically ill. Chest X-ray images remain suboptimal in more than one-third of cases and are poorly correlated to lung CT images.