The Beta-Blocker Story: Getting It Right

The Beta-Blocker Story: Getting It Right

The idea of using beta-blockers as a treatment for ventricular fibrillation occurred to James Black over 60 years ago. He developed propranolol and cimetidine, among other pharmacologic agents, work for which he won the Nobel... read more

Ultrafast Cooling With Total Liquid Ventilation Mitigates Early Inflammatory Response

Ultrafast cooling with TLV mitigates neuroinflammation and attenuates acute brain lesions in the early phase following resuscitation in large animals subjected to cardiac arrest (CA). Brain injury is one of the most serious... read more

Genetic Testing in Early-onset Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a globally prevalent cardiac arrhythmia with significant genetic underpinnings, as highlighted by recent large-scale genetic studies. A prominent clinical and genetic overlap exists between... read more

Roadblock: AFib with RVR

Roadblock: AFib with RVR

In this paper we focus on strategies to bypass the most common pitfalls in our treatment algorithm when treating patients who present to the ED in atrial fibrillation with RVR. We all know the few medications in our toolbox... read more

Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Causing Nonbacterial Thrombotic Endocarditis

Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Causing Nonbacterial Thrombotic Endocarditis

Nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE) is a rare condition that causes noninfectious vegetative lesions of heart valves. NBTE is generally seen in association with advanced malignancy. The patient in this case is a 54-year-old... read more

Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Stroke Patients While on Oral Anticoagulation

Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Stroke Patients While on Oral Anticoagulation

Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and ischemic stroke while on oral anticoagulation are at increased risk of recurrent ischemic stroke and death. These patients currently have an unmet medical need. Individual participant... read more

Diastolic Shock Index and Septic Shock Outcome

Diastolic Shock Index and Septic Shock Outcome

Early recognition and resuscitation of patients in septic shock are critical skills for an emergency medicine physician. Many clinical decision-making tools have been developed and validated in their use to identify and... read more

Use of Cardiac POCUS in Diagnosis of HFrEF in a Patient with Ischemic Stroke

Use of Cardiac POCUS in Diagnosis of HFrEF in a Patient with Ischemic Stroke

Ischemic strokes in younger adults, those 18 to 50 years old, account for approximately 10% to 15% of all ischemic strokes. Risk factors for stroke between younger and older patients tend to be similar. Younger patients... read more

New-onset Atrial Fibrillation in the ICU

New-onset Atrial Fibrillation in the ICU

Patients who develop new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) during an ICU admission are at a higher risk of in-hospital death and readmission to hospital with AF, heart failure, and stroke than those who do not. Using the... read more

Early Mobilization of Patients Receiving Vasoactive Drugs in Critical Care Units

Early Mobilization of Patients Receiving Vasoactive Drugs in Critical Care Units

Evidence determining specific doses of vasoactive drugs that would allow safe mobilization of patients in critical care is lacking. The criteria that have been used to determine the eligibility to mobilize patients on vasoactive... read more

Effect of Out-of-Hospital Sodium Nitrite on Survival to Hospital Admission After Cardiac Arrest

Effect of Out-of-Hospital Sodium Nitrite on Survival to Hospital Admission After Cardiac Arrest

Among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, administration of sodium nitrite, compared with placebo, did not significantly improve survival to hospital admission. These findings do not support the use of sodium nitrite... read more

1-Year Outcomes in Patients with Infection-related Atrial Fibrillation

1-Year Outcomes in Patients with Infection-related Atrial Fibrillation

During the first year after discharge, 36% of patients with infection-related atrial fibrillation (AF) had a new hospital contact with AF. Infection-related AF was associated with increased risk of thromboembolic events... read more

Parenteral Anticoagulation Not Associated with Reduced Risk of Ischemic Stroke Among Patients with Atrial Fibrillation During Sepsis

Parenteral Anticoagulation Not Associated with Reduced Risk of Ischemic Stroke Among Patients with Atrial Fibrillation During Sepsis

Among patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) during sepsis, parenteral anticoagulation was not associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke and was associated with higher bleeding rates. Of 113,511 patients hospitalized... read more

Association Between Titin Loss-of-Function Variants and Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation

Association Between Titin Loss-of-Function Variants and Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation

In a case-control study, there was a statistically significant association between an LOF variant in the TTN gene and early-onset AF, with the variant present in a small percentage of participants with early-onset AF (the... read more

Outcome After Out-of-Hospital Ventricular Fibrillation or Pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia

Outcome After Out-of-Hospital Ventricular Fibrillation or Pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia

Survival was found to be at the upper range of the results retrieved by the systematic literature review. However, we found no significant improvements over time. The neurological outcomes of the survivors were favorable.... read more

Effect of Catheter Ablation vs Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy on Mortality, Stroke, Bleeding, and Cardiac Arrest Among Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Effect of Catheter Ablation vs Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy on Mortality, Stroke, Bleeding, and Cardiac Arrest Among Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

The CABANA Randomized Clinical Trial. In this randomized clinical trial involving 2204 patients with atrial fibrillation, catheter ablation, compared with medical therapy, did not significantly reduce the primary composite... read more

What is the lowest change in cardiac output that transthoracic echocardiography can detect?

In critically ill patients, changes in the velocity-time integral (VTI) of the left ventricular outflow tract, measured by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), are often used to non-invasively assess the response to fluid... read more