Acute Medicine & Surgery

AIM: More than 15,000 elite athletes participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Providing adequate medical services to these elite athletes was a priority. Hence, a polyclinic was established in the Athletes' Village. Visitors were triaged at the emergency department of the polyclinic to enable early treatment of critical illnesses or injuries in the emergency room (ER) and to identify patients suspected of having coronavirus disease as early as possible. No reports of emergency department activities at large sporting events in the pandemic era are available...

BACKGROUND: Surgery for incisional hernias with obesity can be more challenging because obesity is associated with perioperative complications. Necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI) is a life-threatening condition that requires aggressive surgical management. Few incisional hernias with NSTI have been reported, and the optimal strategy is undetermined. CASE PRESENTATION: A 66-year-old obese woman had been diagnosed with incisional hernia 4 years previously but was not treated...

AIM: Multicenter collaborative research accelerates patient recruitment and strengthens evidence. Nevertheless, the factors influencing emergency and critical care physicians' involvement in such research in Japan remain unclear. METHODS: A nationwide web-based survey conducted in early 2023 targeted emergency physicians working a minimum of 3 days per week in Japan. The survey descriptively assessed their backgrounds, work and research environments, experiences, and perceived impediments and motivators for multicenter research...

AIM: We sought to collect granular data on temperature burden to further explore existing conflicting information on the relationship between temperature alterations and outcomes in patients with sepsis requiring hospital admission. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study that enrolled a convenience sample of patients with sepsis or septic shock admitted to the hospital from the emergency department (ED). A "unit of temperature burden (UTB)" was defined as >1°C (1...

AIM: We retrospectively investigated the current status of poisoned patients who had been transported by a physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service and their final outcomes using data from the JAPAN DOCTOR HELICOPTER REGISTRY SYSTEM. METHODS: The following details of dispatch activity were collected from the database of the JAPAN DOCTOR HELICOPTER REGISTRY SYSTEM: patient age and sex, timing of dispatch request, presence of cardiac arrest, vital signs, medical intervention, main etiology of intoxication, and final outcome...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

AIM: Capnography is recommended for use in procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA); however, limited studies assess its impact on recovery time. We investigated the association between capnography and the recovery time of PSA in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: This study was a secondary analysis of a multicenter PSA patient registry including eight hospitals in Japan. We included all patients who received PSA in the ED between May 2017 and May 2021 and divided the patients into capnography and no-capnography groups...

AIM: To determine whether the rewarming rate is associated with neurological outcomes in patients with post-cardiac arrest syndrome treated with targeted temperature management (TTM) at 34°C. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a nationwide cohort study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Japan. Adult patients who experienced a return of spontaneous circulation and completed TTM at 34°C between June 2014 and December 2019 were divided equally into three groups (slow, moderate, and rapid) according to their rewarming rates from 34°C to 36°C...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1002/ams2.454.].

Sepsis is the leading cause of death worldwide. Considering regional variations in the characteristics of patients with sepsis, a better understanding of the epidemiology in Japan will lead to further development of strategies for the prevention and treatment of sepsis. To investigate the epidemiology of sepsis, we conducted a systematic literature review of PubMed between 2003 and January 2023. Among the 78 studies using a Japanese administrative database, we included 20 that defined patients with sepsis as those with an infection and organ dysfunction...

BACKGROUND: We describe a case of segmental arterial mediolysis in which a vessel ruptured on two consecutive days. CASE PRESENTATION: A 69-year-old man presented with sudden-onset abdominal pain. Computed tomography showed a hematoma in the gastric wall. The patient was discharged after the pain was relieved but returned 8 h later with abdominal pain and shock. Repeated computed tomography revealed a massive intra-abdominal hemorrhage without previous aneurysm formation...

Traumatic intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernias are very rare; they occur when the central tendon of the diaphragm ruptures, allowing abdominal viscera to herniate into the pericardial sac, causing life-threatening cardiac tamponade. Computed tomography imaging with multiplanar reconstruction is useful in evaluating such cases.

The endothelial glycocalyx covers the lumen of blood vessels throughout the body and plays an important role in endothelial homeostasis. Advances in electron microscopy techniques have provided clues to better understand the structure and composition of identical vascular endothelial glycocalyx. The morphology and thickness of the endothelial glycocalyx differ from organ to organ. The content of the endothelial glycocalyx covering the vascular lumen differs even in the brain, heart, and lungs, which have the same continuous capillaries...

BACKGROUND: Anaphylactic shock of diclofenac etalhyaluronate agent can be prolonged and recurrent. However, its reports are rare, and consequently, its method of management remains to be established. CASE PRESENTATION: A 65-year-old woman received an intra-articular injection of diclofenac and hyaluronate. After 20 min, systemic urticaria and severe hypotension developed after walking. After an intramuscular adrenaline injection, she was transferred to our hospital...

BACKGROUND: In recent years, various home-use health devices have gained popularity. The abdominal roller is one of these. Spinal cord injury without radiological abnormality is known to occur even with relatively minor injuries, but there are few reports of such injuries caused by a roller. CASE PRESENTATION: Two cases of spinal cord injuries caused by a roller are reported. In both cases, injuries occurred during the standing rollout by a patient in an inebriated state, and the patients were rushed to an emergency department...

AIM: To determine whether dispatcher-provided cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions improve the outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). METHODS: Cases registered in the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (JAAM-OHCA) Registry between June 2014 and December 2019 were included. Cases in which the dispatcher provided CPR instructions to the bystander were included in the "Instructions" group", and cases without CPR instructions were included in the "No Instructions" group...

BACKGROUND: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is an effective treatment for patients with severe heart failure, and certain guidelines recommend its early initiation. However, the current Japanese law strictly prohibits paramedics from administering this treatment. To demonstrate the efficacy and safety of prehospital administration of CPAP therapy, this study was conducted by the Yokohama Medical Control Council (Yokohama MC). METHODS: The Yokohama MC established a protocol for CPAP treatment and dispatched Doctor Cars to attend to patients with severe respiratory failure...

AIM: The diagnosis of acute vertebral compression fractures (AVCFs) is often challenging. An alternative to magnetic resonance imaging, which may not always be available, includes a comparison of supine and sitting/standing position radiographs. However, this cannot be accomplished in patients with acute vertebral compression fractures who require emergency transport and are in severe pain. In this study, aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of comparing lateral-view radiographs of the thoracolumbar spine in supine and 30° head-elevated positions, which are less painful...

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a frequent but lethal complication in sepsis. Anticoagulant therapies, such as heparin, antithrombin, activated protein C, and recombinant human-soluble thrombomodulin, were expected to regulate the progression of coagulopathy in sepsis. Although a number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have evaluated the survival effects of these therapies over the past few decades, there remains no consistent evidence showing a significant survival benefit of anticoagulant therapies...

AIM: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is considered a possible source of non-infectious, non-central fever in the intensive care unit (ICU). In the neurocritically ill, it is unknown whether lower extremity venous Doppler ultrasonography (LEVDUS) for DVT in the setting of fever leads to a higher detection rate than the baseline detection rate of DVT in this population. The aim of this study was to compare the DVT detection rate of LEVDUS performed for the indication of fever to LEVDUS performed for other indications in a neurosciences ICU...