Airway management, penetrating neck trauma.

This study was performed to determine whether clinical presentation can accurately predict which victims of penetrating neck trauma require urgent airway management. An 8-year retrospective review of all patients with a diagnosis of penetrating neck trauma seen in the emergency department of an urban teaching hospital was conducted. Of the 114 patients reviewed, 69 (60%) were intubated at some point in their hospital course.

Recognition and management of sarcoidosis in the emergency department.

Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease of uncertain etiology. It can affect essentially every organ system in the human body and its manifestations are protean. Sarcoidosis can present in the emergency department (ED) as de novo disease, as preexisting disease with acute exacerbations, or as chronic debilitation.

Penetrating chest trauma.

Penetrating chest trauma causes a broad spectrum of injury that requires a variety of diagnostic and resuscitative skills. Prompt resuscitation and decisive action are mandatory for patients who present in extremis, whereas a thorough diagnostic evaluation and appropriate observation are indicated in less compelling circumstances. Clinical skill and judgment along with plain radiographs provide the basis for treatment in most cases.

Grossly positive peritoneal lavage and nontherapeutic laparotomy after abdominal stab wound.

Diagnostic peritoneal lavage is often employed in the evaluation of stab wounds of the anterior abdomen and lower chest. This technique is perhaps too sensitive, however, in detecting self-limited solid visceral and abdominal wall injuries. We report five cases of nontherapeutic laparotomies in abdominal stab wound victims who had a grossly positive peritoneal lavage prior to surgery.