Intraoperative Blood Pressure Variability and Early Postoperative Stroke: A Case-Control Study.

Background: This study aims to assess the association of postoperative stroke with intraoperative hemodynamic variability and transfusion management.

Methods: In this case-control study, adult patients (≥ 18 years) who had a stroke within 72 hours of a surgical procedure were matched to 2 control patients according to age, sex, and procedure type. Primary risk factors assessed were intraoperative fluid administration, blood product transfusion, vasopressor use, and measures of variability in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate: maximum, minimum, range, SD, and average real variability.

Increased Fecal Bile Acid Excretion in a Significant Subset of Patients with Other Inflammatory Diarrheal Diseases.

Background: Increased fecal bile acid excretion (IBAX) occurs in a third of patients with functional diarrhea.

Aims: To assess the prevalence of IBAX in benign inflammatory intestinal and colonic diseases presenting with chronic diarrhea.

Methods: All patients with known inflammatory diseases or resections who underwent 48 h fecal fat and BA testing for chronic diarrhea at a single center were included.

Increased body mass index is associated with decreased imaging quality of point-of-care abdominal aortic ultrasonography.

Background: Given that abdominal aorta is a retroperitoneal structure, increased body mass index (BMI) may have an adverse effect upon the quality of aortic ultrasonographic imaging.

Purpose: To assess the hypothesis that increased BMI is associated with worsening point-of-care abdominal aortic ultrasonographic image quality.

Methods: This is a retrospective single-center study of point-of-care abdominal aortic ultrasound examinations performed in an academic emergency department (ED) with fellowship-trained emergency ultrasonography faculty performing quality assurance review.

Fecal Bile Acid Testing in Assessing Patients With Chronic Unexplained Diarrhea: Implications for Healthcare Utilization.

Introduction: Bile acid (BA) diarrhea is the cause in ∼26% of chronic unexplained (nonbloody) diarrhea (CUD) based on SeHCAT testing. To assess fecal BA excretion and healthcare utilization in patients with CUD.

Methods: In a retrospective review of 1,071 consecutive patients with CUD who completed 48-hour fecal BA testing, we analyzed the symptoms, diagnostic tests performed, and final diagnoses.

Increased body mass index does not impact the imaging quality of focused assessment with sonography in trauma.

Background: Many clinicians believe that a patient's body mass index (BMI) affects the likelihood of obtaining high quality ultrasound images.

Objectives: To assess the hypothesis that increased BMI is associated with worsening focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) image quality.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center study of FAST examinations performed in a large academic emergency department (ED) with fellowship-trained emergency ultrasonography faculty performing quality assurance review.