http://dgnews.docguide.com/new-tool-identifies-patients-headache-who-are-risk-aneurysms?
OTTAWA,
Ontario -- November 13, 2017 -- A new tool to identify potentially
fatal aneurysms in patients with headaches who seem otherwise well will
help emergency departments to identify high-risk patients, improve
survival rates, and reduce unnecessary imaging, according to a study
published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
“Although rare, accounting for only 1% to 3% of headaches, these brain aneurysms are deadly,” said Jeffrey Perry, MD, Ottawa Hospital, and the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario. “Almost half of all patients with this condition die and about 2/5 of survivors have permanent neurological deficits. Patients diagnosed when they are alert and with only a headache have much better outcomes, but can be challenging to diagnose as they often look relatively well.”
The Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule was developed by researchers at the Ottawa Hospital, which also created The Ottawa Rules, decision tools used in emergency departments around the world to identify ankle, knee, and spine fractures.
The current study, involving 1,153 alert adult patients with acute sudden onset headache admitted to 6 university-affiliated hospitals in Canada over 4 years from January 2010 to 2014, validates earlier published research that initially proposed the Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule.
“Before any clinical decision rule can be used safely, it must be validated in new patients to ensure that the derived ‘rule’ did not come to be by chance, and that it is truly safe,” said Dr. Perry. “This is especially true with a potentially life-threatening condition such as subarachnoid haemorrhage.”
The newly validated rule gives emergency physicians a reliable tool to identify high-risk patients and rule out the condition in low-risk patients without having to order time-consuming imaging.
“We hope this tool will be widely adopted in emergency departments to identify patients at high risk of aneurysm while cutting wait times and avoiding unnecessary testing for low-risk patients,” said Dr. Perry. “We estimate that this rule could save 25 lives in Ontario each year.”
Reference: http://www.cmaj.ca/site/press/cmaj.170072.pdf
SOURCE: Canadian Medical Association Journal
“Although rare, accounting for only 1% to 3% of headaches, these brain aneurysms are deadly,” said Jeffrey Perry, MD, Ottawa Hospital, and the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario. “Almost half of all patients with this condition die and about 2/5 of survivors have permanent neurological deficits. Patients diagnosed when they are alert and with only a headache have much better outcomes, but can be challenging to diagnose as they often look relatively well.”
The Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule was developed by researchers at the Ottawa Hospital, which also created The Ottawa Rules, decision tools used in emergency departments around the world to identify ankle, knee, and spine fractures.
The current study, involving 1,153 alert adult patients with acute sudden onset headache admitted to 6 university-affiliated hospitals in Canada over 4 years from January 2010 to 2014, validates earlier published research that initially proposed the Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule.
“Before any clinical decision rule can be used safely, it must be validated in new patients to ensure that the derived ‘rule’ did not come to be by chance, and that it is truly safe,” said Dr. Perry. “This is especially true with a potentially life-threatening condition such as subarachnoid haemorrhage.”
The newly validated rule gives emergency physicians a reliable tool to identify high-risk patients and rule out the condition in low-risk patients without having to order time-consuming imaging.
“We hope this tool will be widely adopted in emergency departments to identify patients at high risk of aneurysm while cutting wait times and avoiding unnecessary testing for low-risk patients,” said Dr. Perry. “We estimate that this rule could save 25 lives in Ontario each year.”
Reference: http://www.cmaj.ca/site/press/cmaj.170072.pdf
SOURCE: Canadian Medical Association Journal
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