Patient Trajectories Among Persons Hospitalized for COVID-19 : A Cohort Study.

Background: Risk factors for progression of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to severe disease or death are underexplored in U.S. cohorts.

Ultrasound for routine lumbar puncture.

Objectives: The objective was to determine if use of ultrasound (US) by emergency physicians (EPs) to localize spinal landmarks improves the performance of lumbar puncture (LP).

Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, controlled study conducted in a county teaching hospital. Subjects, adults 18 years of age or older who were to receive LPs for routine clinical care in the emergency department (ED), were randomized either to undergo US localization of the puncture site or to have the puncture site determined by palpation of spinal landmarks.

Bedside ultrasound for difficult lumbar puncture.

Lumbar puncture is a common procedure performed in the emergency department for evaluation of several life-threatening conditions, including meningitis and subarachnoid hemorrhage. We describe the use of bedside ultrasound to assist in performance of the lumbar puncture in situations where the standard "blind" technique of needle insertion using palpable spinal landmarks is likely to be difficult or to fail. Use of ultrasound to guide lumbar puncture needle placement was originally reported 30 years ago in the Russian literature.