Critical Care
Mahshid Dehghan; Moloud Balafar; Mahboub Pouraghaei; Mahnaz Ranjkesh; Ali Delkhorrami; Samad Shams Vahdati
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 13 April 2024
Abstract
Objective: According to the most recent guidelines, the recommended imaging approaches forthe diagnosis of pneumonia are chest X-ray (CXR) and computed tomography (CT) scan. However,there are limitations to these approaches. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has attracted a lot of attentionin intensive care units ...
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Objective: According to the most recent guidelines, the recommended imaging approaches forthe diagnosis of pneumonia are chest X-ray (CXR) and computed tomography (CT) scan. However,there are limitations to these approaches. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has attracted a lot of attentionin intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency departments. Considering the importance of thetimely diagnosis and proper treatment of pneumonia, this study aimed to determine the diagnosticvalue of bedside LUS in comparison to chest CT scans in patients with suspected pneumonia orunspecified CXR findings in the emergency department.Methods: This prospective descriptive-analytic study was conducted in the emergency departmentof Imam Reza hospital. Patients aged 3 years and older with early diagnosis of pneumonia orany unspecified CXR findings with an indication of CT scan were included in the study. LUS wasperformed with a deep curved and linear surface probe. The results obtained from the chestultrasound were compared with the results obtained by CT scan as the diagnostic gold standard.Results: A total of 175 patients were included in this study. According to the results, the sensitivityand specificity of LUS in the diagnosis of subpleural consolidation were 94.1% and 100%,respectively, and the positive predictive value and the negative predictive value were 100% and33.3%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of LUS in diagnosing pleural effusion were69.2% and 100%, respectively, and the positive predictive value and the negative predictive valuewere 100% and 90.7%, respectively. Furthermore, the sensitivity of LUS in diagnosing dynamic airbronchogram was 98%.Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, in patients suspected of pneumonia,LUS is more sensitive and specific in the diagnosis of pneumonia and is less time-intensive andcostly. Additionally, the ultrasound device is easily portable and accessible. It can be widely used anddoes not have the secondary side effects of ionizing radiation in patients. However, the technician’sskill in performing ultrasound is a matter of importance.
Emergency medicine
Hassan Amiri; Mojtaba Chardoli; Maryam Sarvari; Samad Shams Vahdati; Niloufar Ghodrati; Roshan Fahimi
Volume 5, Issue 2 , July 2019, , Pages 56-60
Abstract
Objective: This study investigates the possible magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in patients with cervical trauma having a normal level of consciousness and normal CT reports. These patients have tenderness or an uncomfortable feeling in the traumatized area as well.Methods: In this cross-sectional ...
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Objective: This study investigates the possible magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in patients with cervical trauma having a normal level of consciousness and normal CT reports. These patients have tenderness or an uncomfortable feeling in the traumatized area as well.Methods: In this cross-sectional anterograde study, cases were selected among patients referred to the emergency department of Hafte Tir, Iran University of Medical Sciences from 2012 to 2014. Inclusion criteria to select cases were: age above 15, blunt neck trauma, GCS=15, normal CT scan reports of neck, no past medical history of cervical vertebral surgery, and no persistent neurologic lesions. In order to analyse qualitative data, chi-square test was used and for quantitative data t test was applied accordingly.Results: Two hundred eighty patients with chief complaints of neck pain due to trauma entered our study. Among this batch, 264 of them had normal CT scan reports and MRI was done for all of them. According to the results, the maximum injury in MRI was related to intervertebral disc injury (38 cases), ligamentous edema (35 cases), and muscle edema (22 cases), respectively. Neck tenderness from the beginning of the accident and transient neurologic signs had a significant role in MRI results (P < 0.05).Conclusion: In patients with acute cervical trauma having normal CT reports, MRI must be done in those with the average age of 45 or more, tenderness in the neck area, and in those with neurologic transient symptoms.
Emergency medicine
Nahid Zamanimehr; Samad Shams Vahdati; Hamed Hojjatpanah
Volume 5, Issue 2 , July 2019, , Pages 61-64
Abstract
Objective: Fluid resuscitation is necessary in almost all critical patients. The central venous pressure (CVP) is a well-established method of assessing resuscitation. Recently, there have been attempts to investigate less invasive methods like the diameters of inferior vena cava (IVC) or the jugular ...
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Objective: Fluid resuscitation is necessary in almost all critical patients. The central venous pressure (CVP) is a well-established method of assessing resuscitation. Recently, there have been attempts to investigate less invasive methods like the diameters of inferior vena cava (IVC) or the jugular vein. We aimed to investigate this method in our research.Methods: Seventy eight critical patients admitted to the emergency department from April 2018 to December 2018 were studied. The CVP was measured along with the diameters of the two mentioned veins before and during resuscitation. The urinary output was also recorded after administering the fluid. The minimum p-value that would illustrate a significant association was equal to 0.05.Results: Findings showed that 53.8% of patients were males and 46.2% were females with an average age of 71.48 years. The causes of the critical state were 25.6% hemorrhagic shocks, 30.8% septic shocks and 43.6% hypovolemic shocks. The mean diameter of the jugular vein before and during resuscitation was 27.21 mm and 25.38 mm, respectively (P = 0.1). The mean of IVC diameter before and during resuscitation was 63.33 mm and 57.98 mm, respectively (P <0.001). The CVP was 4.23 mmHg before resuscitation and 5.61 mmHg after resuscitation (P <0.001). With an average urine output of 201.28 cc, a significant correlation was observed with the increase in the CVP, while no such correlations were observed with the decreasing state of the diameters of the IVC or the jugular vein.Conclusion: Both the IVC diameter and the jugular vein diameter are unable to assess fluid resuscitation independently from respiratory factors
Surgery
Nasser Malekpour Alamdari; Samad Shams Vahdati; Barmak Gholizadeh; Shima Nayebian
Volume 5, Issue 1 , January 2019, , Pages 19-22
Abstract
Objective: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complicated kidney defect causing permanent failure in renal function in progressive stages. Hemodialysis is the most accepted treatment to maintain body’s fluid/electrolyte homeostasis at the terminal stages of the disease. Permanent hemodialysis catheter ...
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Objective: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complicated kidney defect causing permanent failure in renal function in progressive stages. Hemodialysis is the most accepted treatment to maintain body’s fluid/electrolyte homeostasis at the terminal stages of the disease. Permanent hemodialysis catheter (permicath) may be inserted blindly or by fluoroscopic guidance. This study aimed to compare the early function and complications between fluoroscopic guidance and blindly insertion of permanent hemodialysis catheter.Methods: This prospective randomized clinical trial was undertaken in the emergency department of Modarres hospital in Tehran, Iran during 2014 and 2015. Patients who needed catheter due to renal failure entered the study. Patients who needed emergency dialysis and those who could not wait for permicath were excluded. Patients were randomly assigned into 2 groups, under fluoroscopic guidance and blindly catheter insertion. Data were collected using a questionnaire and a checklist related to function (after 24 hours and 1 month), a need to exchange the catheter and the early adverse effects such as pneumothorax, hemothorax, and vascular injury.Results: A total of 101 patients were enrolled in this trial. Early dysfunction (blind group = 5), a need for catheter exchange (blind group = 2), pneumothorax (blind group = 2), vascular injury (blind group = 1) were recorded but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P > 0.05).Conclusion: We did not observe a significant difference between the placement of permicath by fluoroscopic or blind method. However, more studies with larger groups are recommended.
Emergency Medical Services
Seyedhossein Ojaghihaghighi; Samad Shams Vahdati; Simin Taghavi; Aydin Rahimzade Jahandari; Pegah Sepehri Majd; Mohammad Mirza-Aghazadeh-Attari
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2018, , Pages 44-47
Abstract
Objective: Pregnancy is an important psychological and biological phenomenon in women’s life. Pregnancy has many complications jeopardizing the well-being of the mother and the child. Methods: In this retrospective study, the data including demographic information, chief complaint, the initial ...
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Objective: Pregnancy is an important psychological and biological phenomenon in women’s life. Pregnancy has many complications jeopardizing the well-being of the mother and the child. Methods: In this retrospective study, the data including demographic information, chief complaint, the initial diagnosis, referral decision, final diagnosis, hospitalization outcome and pregnancy outcomes were studied on 239 pregnant women admitted to the emergency departments of the general hospitals of East Azerbaijan province. Results: The average age of patients was 27.54 years. The time period from the initial presentation to completely leave the emergency department was reported to be 3.66 hours on average. In this study, most patients (74.5%) did not have a history of abortion. Exploring the time of admission for all cases, most patients were admitted from 8 pm to 8 am (67.8%), and 32.2% were referred from 8 am to 8 pm. Concerning the time of pregnancy, 46.4% were at their second trimester of pregnancy. Most of the patients were admitted in cold seasons of the year. The most common chief compliant was abdominal pain with 32.2% frequency. In addition, the most frequent primary diagnoses were an acute abdomen and trauma at 25.5% and 14.2% respectively. Conclusion: Abdominal pain and acute abdomen have the most frequency as the chief compliant and initial diagnosis especially during the second trimester of pregnancy. In this regard, appropriate training and skillful staff are needed to deal with the complaints and complications of abdominal pain. More than half of pregnant women referred to the emergency departments were hospitalized or admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). This signals the necessity of adequate facilities to provide proper care for this group.
Emergency medicine
Samad Shams Vahdati; Kavous Shahsavari Nia; Sarvin Dalil; Paria Habibollahi; Behzad Yousefi
Volume 3, Issue 2 , July 2017, , Pages 46-48
Abstract
Objective: Trauma is a disease of modern societies and one of the reasons for the deaths of all ages in those societies. It is estimated that each year about 8.5 million people worldwide lose their lives as a result of trauma. Among the types of injuries around the world, road accidents are more common. ...
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Objective: Trauma is a disease of modern societies and one of the reasons for the deaths of all ages in those societies. It is estimated that each year about 8.5 million people worldwide lose their lives as a result of trauma. Among the types of injuries around the world, road accidents are more common. We conducted this study to compare types of trauma in different seasons in patients referred to Imam Reza hospital trauma center in 2013. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all trauma patients admitted to Trauma Emergency Department of Imam Reza hospital in Tabriz entered the study. As this study did not focus on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, we used epidemiological data from history and physical examination as a source. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. All data were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. Results: Of all 23 876 patients, 18 044 patients (75.6%) were male and 5832 (24.4%) were female. The prevalence of majority of trauma cases was 11.2% (2671) and occurred in September. Traffic accidents were the most common cause of trauma in patients with a prevalence of 33.9% (8095). Head injury had a prevalence of 38.6%. We did not find any correlation between age of patients, gender, type of injuries and the affected limb. Conclusion: Findings showed that trauma is more prevalent among males and younger people. Thus, proper planning and stringent traffic rules can reduce accident rate.
Emergency medicine
Seyed Hossein Ojaghi Haghighi; Samad Shams Vahdati; Tarannom Mahmoudie; Pegah Sepehri Majd; Mohammad Mirza-Aghazadeh-Attari
Volume 3, Issue 2 , July 2017, , Pages 49-52
Abstract
Objective: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving technique useful in the prevention of death or delaying it in a person with cardiac arrest. In this regard, demographic information about patients who need CPR is vital. Methods: In this cross-sectional study patients with cardiopulmonary ...
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Objective: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving technique useful in the prevention of death or delaying it in a person with cardiac arrest. In this regard, demographic information about patients who need CPR is vital. Methods: In this cross-sectional study patients with cardiopulmonary arrest or arrhythmias admitted to Imam Reza and Sina educational hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences from 22 December 2013 to 21 December 2014 entered the study. Demographic information such as age, sex, cardiopulmonary resuscitation time, the place of cardiopulmonary arrest (outside or inside the hospital), the duration of resuscitation process, success or failure of the resuscitation process and the mechanism of cardiopulmonary arrest were obtained. Results: From a total of 354 cases of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 281 cases (79%) were unsuccessful and 73 cases (21%) were successful. The average age of patients was 59 ± 22 years. The average time of the resuscitation process was 31 ± 12 minutes. There was a significant difference between the mean of age and resuscitation time in patients who had experienced successful or unsuccessful resuscitation (P = 0.0001). There was a significant relationship between sex and the success rate of resuscitation (P = 0.0001). In addition, a significant relationship between the success of the resuscitation operation and the ward of resuscitation was observed (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: The most common mechanism leading to cardiopulmonary arrest among patients was asystole. In this regard, no significant difference was observed between successful and unsuccessful resuscitation processes. It was also observed that the success of resuscitation from 8 am to 4 pm was more than any other time period.
Critical Care
Haleh Mousavi; Samad Shams Vahdati; Roshan Fahimi
Volume 3, Issue 2 , July 2017, , Pages 66-67
Abstract
Invagination is a kind of intestine disease in children and it is occurred between 2 upto 14 years old. This is a report of 17 months infant with intussusception due to trauma. The patient had admitted to emergency department because of motor vehicle accident and because of abdominal pain, abdominal ...
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Invagination is a kind of intestine disease in children and it is occurred between 2 upto 14 years old. This is a report of 17 months infant with intussusception due to trauma. The patient had admitted to emergency department because of motor vehicle accident and because of abdominal pain, abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan was done.
Trauma
Samad Shams Vahdati; Seyed Hossein Ojaghi Haghighi; Pooya Paknejad; Roshan Fahimi; Shahrad Tajoddini
Volume 2, Issue 2 , July 2016, , Pages 31-32
Abstract
Worldwide trauma is currently the sixth leading cause of death, according to 10% of mortalities (1,2). Injury impact and the death from trauma are more common in males than females. People aged between 15 and 45 years include about half of the trauma deaths (3). Citizens of low- and middle-income countries ...
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Worldwide trauma is currently the sixth leading cause of death, according to 10% of mortalities (1,2). Injury impact and the death from trauma are more common in males than females. People aged between 15 and 45 years include about half of the trauma deaths (3). Citizens of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for 89% of all deaths from trauma worldwide. This is particularly because of hospitals’ lack of facilities, equipments, and peripheral care systems (4,5).
Critical Care
Hassan Amiri; Ali Bidari; Samad Shams Vahdati; Nilofar Ghodrati; Tayeb Ramim; Masoumeh Emamverdy
Volume 2, Issue 2 , July 2016, , Pages 42-45
Abstract
Objective: There are many communities at risk by a series of air pollution episodes. Tehran is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The presence of one or more air pollutants with a certain concentration in a particular period of time can cause several adverse effects on human and animals’ ...
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Objective: There are many communities at risk by a series of air pollution episodes. Tehran is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The presence of one or more air pollutants with a certain concentration in a particular period of time can cause several adverse effects on human and animals’ well-being that can cause much morbidity. There are several pollutants in the air but some of them can cause severe adverse effects on the lungs and air ways.Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study 1958 patients with exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who were admitted in the emergency department (ED) of Rasol Akram hospital between March 2004 and March 2006 entered the study. Data such as number of admissions, air pollution particles (CO, SO2, O3, NO2, PM10) according to available documents were analyzed.Results: From 1958 patients who enrolled in this study, 887 (53.5%) were male and 771 (46.5%) were female. According to statistical analysis, we could observe a significant correlation between the concentration of Co, PM10, So2 with ED admission rate of COPD exacerbation (P: 0.031, 0.008, and 0.001 respectively). The effect of PM10, So2 and Co was more significant respectively in logistic regression on ED admission.Conclusion: There was significant correction between concentrations of air pollutants with number of ED admission for COPD exacerbation.
Emergency medicine
Rouzbeh Rajaei Ghafouri; Saeed Shahbazi; Changiz Gholipour; Samad Shams Vahdati; Manouchehr khoshbaten; Amir Ghaffarzad; Respina Jalilian
Volume 2, Issue 2 , July 2016, , Pages 46-49
Abstract
Objective: Acute mesenteric ischemia (IMA) is a vascular emergency with broad variability of clinical presentations and non-specific laboratory findings. Therefore, there is a significant need for reliable serological markers of ischemia. Various laboratory studies may be performed for suspected AMI, ...
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Objective: Acute mesenteric ischemia (IMA) is a vascular emergency with broad variability of clinical presentations and non-specific laboratory findings. Therefore, there is a significant need for reliable serological markers of ischemia. Various laboratory studies may be performed for suspected AMI, but in general, such studies will not establish the diagnosis.Methods: In a prospective, non-interventional study, from October 2012 to October 2013, we investigated 70 patients with probable diagnosis of AMI. Blood samples were taken from patients and analyzed for complete blood count (CBC), prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), international normalized ratio (INR), urea, creatinine (Cr), sodium (Na), potassium (K), D-dimer, lactate, amylase, PH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2), and bicarbonate (HCO3). Finally the results were compared with AMI diagnosis confirmed by computed tomography (CT) angiography.Results: Seventy patients with acute severe abdominal pain were studied. Thirty-nine patients (55.7%) were male and 31 patients (44.3%) were female. The average age was 68.01 ± 14.67 (±SD). Based on CT-angiography results, 27 (38.6%) patients had AMI and 43 (61.4%) patients did not have AMI. Chi-squire test showed P values of 0.606 and 0.986 for relations between sex and risk factors with AMI correspondingly. One-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov revealed white blood cell (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), platelets (Plt), urea, Cr, Na, K, PCO2 and HCO3 as normally distributed parameters (P > 0.05). Moreover PT, PTT, INR, D-dimer, lactate, amylase, and PH were non-normally distributed (P < 0.05).Conclusion: We found a significant relation between increased serum lactate level and definitive AMI diagnosis. We recommend rising serum lactate as a finding in AMI.