Impact of technetium-99m sestamibi imaging on the emergency department management and costs in the evaluation of low-risk chest pain.

Objectives: To assess the impact of rest sestamibi scanning on emergency physicians' (EPs') diagnostic certainty and decision making (as assessed by the hypothetical disposition of patients) for 69 consenting stable patients with suspected acute cardiac ischemia and nondiagnostic electrocardiograms. The resultant impact on costs was examined as a secondary outcome.

Methods: Patients with suspected acute cardiac ischemia were injected with 25 mCi of sestamibi within two hours of active pain in one of three emergency department study sites.

Pretest probability assessment for selective rest sestamibi scans in stable chest pain patients.

The objective of this study was to determine whether pretest probability assessments permit more selective testing of chest pain patients with technetium-99m sestamibi scanning. Pretest probabilities of cardiac ischemia were measured both objectively (Acute Cardiac Ischemia Time-Insensitive Predictive Instrument [ACI-TIPI]) and subjectively (physician's estimate of the probability of unstable angina). Two groups were defined: patients whose postsestamibi scan led to a "downgrade" of the intensity of monitoring and those that resulted in no change in monitoring intensity.

Resting sestamibi imaging for the prognosis of low-risk chest pain.

Objective: To assess the prognostic value of resting Tc-99m sestamibi scanning for adverse cardiac events (ACEs) in ED chest pain patients with a low probability of acute cardiac ischemia (ACI).

Methods: Sixty-nine consenting, hemodynamically stable patients with chest pain and a nondiagnostic electrocardiogram received an injection of 25 mCi of sestamibi during or within two hours of active pain. Scans were interpreted locally by a nuclear cardiologist or radiologist.

Anesthetic methods for reduction of acute shoulder dislocations: a prospective randomized study comparing intraarticular lidocaine with intravenous analgesia and sedation.

A prospective, randomized, nonblinded clinical trial was undertaken to evaluate whether local intraarticular lidocaine injection (IAL) is equally effective in facilitating reduction of acute anterior shoulder dislocations (AASD) as intravenous analgesia/sedation (IVAS). The setting was an urban, Level 1, trauma center. Patients enrolled presented to the emergency department (ED) with radiographically confirmed AASD and were randomized either to the IVAS group or the IAL group.

Dose-related response of centrally administered epinephrine on the change in aortic diastolic pressure during closed-chest massage in dogs.

The current recommendation of the American Heart Association is to give 0.5 to 1.0 mg (7.