EMOttawa Blog

Gaspari et al. Ann Emerg Med. 2025 Oct;86(4):328-336. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2025.04.014. Question:  To identify the prevalence of non-shockable ECG rhythm but ventricular fibrillation (VF) by Echo in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). To determine the clinical relevance of occult VF and whether it affects survival to hospital discharge, ROSC, and termination of VF. M...

Acute valvular emergencies are uncommon, but when they present they can rapidly become life-threatening. Patients often arrive with undifferentiated respiratory failure, pulmonary edema, hypotension, or cardiogenic shock, and the initial diagnosis may not be obvious. Unfortunately, many of the reflexive interventions we rely on in emergency medicine, such as aggressive fluid ...

Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a common ED presentation, and these patients are often in significant pain with persistent nausea and vomiting. While CT remains the gold standard to confirm the diagnosis, identify the transition point, detect complications such as bowel ischemia, and guide surgical management, it can often take hours to obtain. During that […]

The pos...