Acute Lower Extremity Deep Venous Thrombosis: The Data, Where We Are, and How It Is Done.

The incidence of venous thromboembolism, including both deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, is estimated at 300,000-600,000 per year. Although thrombosis may occur anywhere, it is thrombosis of the deep veins of the lower extremities that is of interest as this is where thrombosis occurs most often within the venous system. This article discusses the evaluation and interventions, including endovascular catheter-direct treatments, for patients with acute deep venous thrombosis.

A pilot study to develop a prediction instrument for endocarditis in injection drug users admitted with fever.

Objective: Seeking to evaluate the feasibility of a prediction instrument for endocarditis in febrile injection drug users (IDUs), we determined (1) the frequency percentage of IDUs admitted with fever diagnosed with endocarditis and (2) whether individual or combinations of emergency department (ED) clinical criteria (patient history, physical examination findings, and laboratory tests) are associated with endocarditis in IDUs admitted to rule out endocarditis.

Methods: The ED and inpatient charts of all IDUs with a diagnosis of rule out endocarditis admitted at 3 urban hospitals in 2006 were reviewed. Screening performance of individual criteria was determined, and the most sensitive combination of criteria was derived by classification tree analysis.