Faculty Bibliography

Allergic reaction is a common clinical picture in the Emergency Department (ED). Most allergic reactions are from food or drugs. A detailed history is an integral aspect of determining the causative agent of an allergy. Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal) allergy is a tick-acquired red meat allergy that causes delayed-onset allergic reaction or anaphylaxis due to molecular mimicry. Alpha-gal allergy may not be widely known as a cause of allergic reactions. Lack of universal awareness of this phenomenon in the ED and Urgent Care setting could lead to misdiagnosis, or delayed diagnosis. Subsequently, lack of proper instruction to avoid red meat could put patients at risk for future attacks with morbidity or mortality. We report three cases of allergic reaction presumed from red meat consumption secondary to alpha-gal allergy.

Patients presenting to the emergency department with certain traumatic conditions can be managed in observation units. The evidence base supporting the use of observation units to manage injured patients is smaller than the evidence base supporting the management of medical conditions in observation units. The conditions that are eligible for management in an observation unit are not limited to those described in this article, and investigators should continue to identify types of conditions that may benefit from this type of health care delivery.

Early palliative care consultation ha the potential to provide comfort to patients and families, and decrease costs and length of stay.

OBJECTIVE: The emergency department (ED) of NYU Langone Medical Center was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, contributing to a public health disaster in New York City. We evaluated hospital-based acute care provided through the establishment of an urgent care center with an associated ED-run observation service (EDOS) that operated in the absence of an ED during this disaster. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients placed in an EDOS following a visit to an urgent care center during the 18 months of ED closure. We reviewed diagnoses, clinical protocols, selection criteria, and performance metrics. RESULTS: Of 55,723 urgent care center visits, 15,498 patients were hospitalized, and 3167 of all hospitalized patients (20.4%) were placed in the EDOS. A total of 2660 EDOS patients (84%) were discharged from the EDOS. The 8 most frequently utilized clinical protocols accounted for 76% of the EDOS volume. CONCLUSIONS: A diverse group of patients presenting to an urgent care center following the destruction of an ED by natural disaster can be cared for in an EDOS, regardless of association with a physical ED. An urgent care center with an associated EDOS can be implemented to provide patient care in a disaster situation. This may be useful when existing ED or hospital resources are compromised. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 6).

The 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) practice guidelines for the treatment of blood cholesterol significantly changed the paradigm of how providers should prescribe statin therapy, especially for older adults. While the evidence supports statin therapy for older adults with cardiovascular disease for secondary prevention and with high cardiovascular risk for primary prevention, the evidence is lacking for older adults without major cardiovascular risk aside from age. The unclear evidence base for older adults must be considered along with the potential harms of statin therapy when incorporating the 2013 ACC/AHA practice guidelines for considering statin treatment, particularly for primary prevention for older adults.

Statins are the cornerstone of lipid-lowering therapy for cardiovascular disease prevention. The 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines represent a fundamental shift in how statins will be prescribed. The new guidelines recommend statins for nearly all older patients up to age 75 years, including healthy adults with low normal lipid levels and no atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk factors other than age. Under the 2013 guidelines, age becomes a main determinant for initiating statin therapy for primary prevention among older adults. Specifically, according to the new guidelines, white males aged 63-75, white females aged 71-75, African American males aged 66-75, and African American females aged 70-75 with optimal risk factors would be recommended for statin treatment for primary prevention. Based on the new guidelines, one could term these older adults as having "statin deficiency," a condition warranting statin treatment. We call this putative condition of age-related statin deficiency "statinopause." After careful examination of the trial evidence, we find very little support for the new recommendations for primary prevention. The lack of evidence underscores the need for clinical trials to determine the risks and benefits of statin therapy for primary prevention among older adults.

BACKGROUND:This study focuses on the impact of preoperative narcotic medication use on outcomes of surgical treatment of migraine headaches. METHODS:A retrospective comparative review was conducted with patients undergoing migraine surgery. Data gathered included demographic information, baseline migraine headache characteristics, migraine surgery sites, postoperative migraine headache characteristics 1 year or more following surgery, and preoperative migraine medication use. Patients were grouped based on preoperative narcotic medication use. The narcotic users were subdivided into low and high narcotic user groups. Preoperative migraine characteristics were comparable between groups and the outcomes of migraine surgery were compared between the groups. RESULTS:Outcomes in 90 narcotic users were compared with those for 112 patients not using narcotic medications preoperatively. Narcotic users showed statistically significantly less reduction in frequency, severity, and duration of migraine headaches after surgery. Narcotic users had clinical improvement in 66.7 percent of patients and elimination in 18.9 percent versus 86.6 and 36.6 percent, respectively, in the nonnarcotic group. The group that consumed narcotics had significantly lower rates of improvement in all migraine indices. CONCLUSIONS:Previous studies have discouraged the routine use of narcotic medications in the management of migraine medications. The authors' study demonstrates that narcotic medication use before migraine headache surgery may predispose patients to worse outcomes postoperatively. Because pain cannot be objectively documented, the question remains of whether this failure to improve the pain was indeed a suboptimal response to surgery or the need for narcotic substances. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE/METHODS:Risk, II.

BACKGROUND:Enophthalmos is a challenging surgical problem to correct. Standard techniques to adjust orbital volume require invasive maneuvers such as osteotomies. Fat injection may provide a simple and less-invasive way of augmenting orbital volume to correct enophthalmos. METHODS:The right eye orbital volume of 10 New Zealand White rabbits was augmented with fat. Autologous fat was diced and injected into the retrobulbar space. Computed tomographic scans were evaluated for changes in globe position and retrobulbar volume. Visually evoked potentials were conducted to test the integrity of the optic tract. Rabbits were killed at 12 weeks after surgery. Orbital exenterations were performed to allow for gross and histologic evaluation. RESULTS:Right globe position showed a mean increase in eye proptosis of 3.4 mm at postoperative day 1 and 0.9 mm at 11 weeks postoperatively in comparison with the left globe position. No significant change was noted in the left globe position. Retrobulbar volume demonstrated an initial mean increase of 31 percent and a final mean increase of 9.8 percent at 11 weeks in the right eye compared with the left eye. Visually evoked potentials revealed intact optic pathways in all animals. Gross anatomical evaluation showed deposition of fat grafts. Histologic analysis showed both revascularized and necrotic areas of fat. No retinal or optic nerve damage was identified. CONCLUSIONS:Fat injection can augment orbital volume in an animal model and preserve visual function. Further investigation is necessary to document the clinical safety and value of this technique in humans.

BACKGROUND:The incidence of obesity is on the rise in the United States and worldwide. Complications following panniculectomy are higher for super obese patients, often requiring readmission and additional interventions. In this study, the authors compare the outcomes of patients who underwent primary closure of their resection wounds to the outcomes of patients who underwent initial open wound management with a negative-pressure dressing. METHODS:The records of all patients who underwent panniculectomy between 2007 and 2012 were reviewed. Of 14 patients with a body mass index greater than 50, nine underwent primary closure and five were treated with open wound management. A retrospective chart review was performed. RESULTS:There were no statistically significant differences in age or preoperative comorbidities, but body mass index was higher for the open wound management group (66.4 versus 58.9, p = 0.039). There were no statistically significant differences in mean operative time, resection weight, estimated blood loss, or hospital length of stay. The primary closure group had a 44 percent readmission rate and a 33 percent reoperation rate for wound complications. The open wound management group had no wound-related readmissions or secondary procedures for débridement. CONCLUSIONS:Open wound management in the massive panniculectomy patient reduces hospital readmission and secondary operations. This case series provides reasons to support the consideration of open wound management following massive panniculectomy in the super morbidly obese patient population.

The literature surrounding pediatric burns has focused on inpatient management. The goal of this study is to characterize the population of burned children treated as outpatients and assess outcomes validating this method of burn care. A retrospective review of 953 patients treated the burn clinic and burn unit of a tertiary care center. Patient age, burn etiology, burn characteristics, burn mechanism, and referral pattern were recorded. The type of wound care and incidence of outcomes including subsequent hospital admission, infection, scarring, and surgery served as the primary outcome data. Eight hundred and thirty children were treated as outpatients with a mean time of 1.8 days for the evaluation of burn injury in our clinic. Scalds accounted for 53% of the burn mechanism, with burns to the hand/wrist being the most frequent area involved. The mean percentage of TBSA was 1.4% for the outpatient cohort and 8% for the inpatient cohort. Burns in the outpatient cohort healed with a mean time of 13.4 days. In the outpatient cohort, nine (1%) patients had subsequent admissions and three (0.4%) patients had concern for infection. Eight patients from the outpatient cohort were treated with excision and grafting. The vast majority of pediatric burns are small, although they may often involve more critical areas such as the face and hand. Outpatient wound care is an effective treatment strategy which results in low rates of complications and should become the standard of care for children with appropriate burn size and home support.