EM REMS

A colleague pointed out an interesting CT on a patient with epigastric pain…

This CT shows stranding around the pancreas with fluid tracking in Gerota’s fascial plane.  What is Gerota’s fascia you say?

Gerota’s fascia (otherwise known as “Renal Fascia”) is the layer of connective tissue surrounding the kidneys and suprarenal glands.  Anterior to this fascial compartment is the prerenal space which contains the pancreas, ascending colon, descending colon, and the second-fourth portions of the duodenum.  Any inflammation with these organs can lead to fluid within Gerota’s fascia.  On the CT above this is demonstrated by the fluid stripe anterior to the left kidney on the middle image (sagittal plane)  and superior to the left kidney on the third image (coronal plane).  For an anatomic picture of Gerota’s fascia see the following Wikipedia reference:

Gerota’s Fascia

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Image Contributor:  Tag Hopkins, MD

References

1.  Renal Fascia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renal_fascia.  Accessed: 5/2013

We’ve all had them…the really, really bad GI bleeder.  Thus man came in peri-code.  He was resuscitated with massive-transfusion to somewhat clinically stable.  After NG tube initially showed over a liter of blood return it stopped, couldn’t be lavaged or suctioned, and his abdomen started distending over the course of the next 1/2 hour.  We decided to get a CT scan to evaluate the distension and this is what was found:

The abdominal CT with contrast shows very large varicies extending into the stomach!  His stomach has several fluid densities consistent with hematoma, blood, and an area concerning for active exstravasation.  On the coronal image you can also see some dependent ascites around the liver.  The distal portion of the nasogastric tube is thought to have been obstructed by the large hematoma in his stomach.

The patient ended up improving with octreotide and correcting his INR of 3.5.  He had an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) which confirmed varicies and several were banded.

WARNING:  CT abdomen is not a usual imaging modality for GI bleeders.  We obtained imaging because the patient had increasing distension and abdominal pain.  We wanted to rule out aortic pathology, mesenteric ischemia, hemorrhagic malignancy, gastric perforation, and other pathology that sometimes can be associated with GI bleeding.  I don’t advocate CT imaging in most GI bleeders.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

Fight broke out at the local prison and this man was shot in the face with a rubber bullet…

The “brain” weighting CT (first figure) shows a ruptured globe with hemorrhage into the orbit.  The remainder of the figures are in “bone” weighting and show various fractures:

1. Sagittal view of a comminuted fracture of the ethmoid sinus (medial orbital wall)
2. Sagittal view of a comminuted fracture of the maxillary sinus (inferior orbital wall)
3. Sagittal view of a posterior orbital fracture
4. Coronal view re-demonstrating the ethmoid and maxillary sinus fractures

This poor fellow ended up losing his eye and going back to prison.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

A recent patient who presented after choking on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich…

This was an interesting case because of the post-intubation conundrum we faced.  The patient came in peri-arrest from hypoxia, GCS was 3 with very poor respiratory effort and oxygen saturation of 60%.  Therefore we were unable to get a great respiratory exam prior to intubation.  Bag-valve mask ventilation with 100% oxygen did not improve the situation and the patient was very difficult to bag due to obviously increased airway pressure.  The intubation was very difficult and as we were checking for bilateral breath sounds post-intubation, we noticed none on the left side.  Capnography color change was good, no gastric sounds were heard, and moisture was in the tube.  Pulling back the endotracheal tube did not change the lack of left sided lung sounds.  The patient continued to be difficult to bag with hypoxia very slowly improving from initial saturations in the 60s now to the mid-70s.  At this point all of our heart rates were around 150 and we had that sinking feeling that occurs when oxygenation doesn’t improve after intubation.

For a few minutes we were concerned about pneumothorax on the left side.  As you can tell from the xray our external landmarks such as tracheal deviation, jugular venous distention were severely limited by body habitus.  Bedside ultrasound using the linear probe was limited as well and no lung-sliding was visualized.  We basically couldn’t identify what we were seeing on ultrasound (later we found out the lung was completely collapsed and we may have been seeing diaphragm, heart, and non-aerated lung).  In the heat-of-the-moment the ED treatment team was perplexed on how to rule out a tension pneumothorax in this situation.

Luckily the patient’s oxygenation creeped above 90% and the patient didn’t have any blood pressure problems.  We took a deep breath, relaxed, and made the decision to obtain the above portable chest xray before performing empiric thoracostomy.  This turned out to be the correct decision as she had a complete obstruction of the left mainstem bronchus from aspiration of a peanut-butter sandwich.  CT chest (above) shows the obstruction at the level of the carina with collapse of the left lung.  Bronchoscopy was performed and a large amount of peanut butter, jelly, and sandwich fragments were removed with improvement in the patient’s chest xray post-procedure.

Moral of the story:  not all patients have pneumothorax or a malpositioned endotracheal tube when lung sounds are absent.

A brief alternative differential diagnosis when a patient has absent lung sounds on one side:

1. Mainstem bronchus obstruction or compression
2. Diaphragmatic hernia
3. Large pleural effusion
4. History of pneumonectomy

I’ve noticed a trend in ED training toward increased reliance on bedside ultrasound.  It is important to realize that if you are going to use ultrasound in the resuscitation decisions such as this, make sure that you are seeing something that reliably indicates the pathology you are seeking to correct.  We did not see signs that supported or refuted pneumothorax and thus the ultrasound was non-diagnostic.  I apologize for not having the ultrasound images.  We forgot to save them as we all had that panicked feeling when you’ve intubated someone and their pulse ox isn’t improving very fast!

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

An elderly patient presented with abdominal pain for a week.  The patient had peritoneal signs on exam and thus xray imaging was pursued (see discussion below):

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

This is an acute abdominal series showing free intraperitoneal air in the right upper quadrant.  Notice that it cannot be determined if the patient has free air on the supine view (Image 1).  This is because the air is layering to the anterior portion of the peritoneal cavity.  In order to reveal air in the peritoneum, one must layer it to one of the sides (Image 2 – patient is laying on their left side and the air flows to the right upper quadrant) or upright (Image 3 – patient is upright and the air layers under the diaphragm, in this case the right side). 

I like the acute abdominal series to look for free air in the setting of a highly concerning exam.  You can also just do an upright chest xray.  They are quick and if free air is found it will likely be a study that will change the patient’s course; surgery will in most cases take the patient to the operating room with just an xray for exploratory laparotomy.  In our case, however, surgery was tied up for a bit and this allowed an extra 1/2 hour ED stay, I pursued non-contrast CT to further identify what was going on:

Image 4

Image 5

This CT shows findings highly concerning for a perforated duodenal ulcer.  In Image 4 you can see the air just above the liver edge anteriorly along with free intraperitoneal fluid layering on the side of the liver and spleen.  She also has an aortic aneurysm.  Image 5 shows an area of free air and stranding near the distal duodenum.  Laparotomy revealed a perforated duodenal ulcer, the aortic aneurysm was incidental. 

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

A couple days ago I asked what other imaging modality is recommended with knee dislocations.  The answer is CT angiogram of the lower extremity.  As you recall we had an image of a patient with a knee dislocation, here is his CT angiogram of the left lower extremity:

This image shows no evidence of injury to the popliteal artery with contrast reaching the distal vasculature.  Please note that the bolus timing was optimized only for the left side thus the right side is not completely imaged.  Remember this imaging modality in knee dislocations to rule out vascular injury.

I came across an article written in 2007 published in Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America which has a good review section on knee dislocation (1).  The article also discusses other important emergency medicine orthopedic injuries.  According to the article, popliteal artery injury occurs in approximately 40% of high-energy knee dislocations.  Peroneal nerve injury occurs in 14-35% of cases.  Some classic mechanisms of dislocation include when a car bumper strikes the femur above a planted leg and when the knee strikes the dashboard in a high-energy frontal MVC.  Patients with findings consistent with arterial injury need emergent vascular surgery, ideally within 6 hours.  Compartment syndrome can occur and a delay in repair can result in need for amputation.  Furthermore, delayed spasm or compartment syndrome can occur and it is recommended that all patients be observed for 24 hours with serial clinical exams.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

References

1.  Newton EJ, Love J.  Emergency Department Management of Selected Orthopedic Injuries.  Emerg Med Clin N Am 25; 2007: 763-793.

This patient came in septic with hypotension, tachycardia, obtunded mental status.  A decubitus ulcer was noted stage III with surrounding crepitus and erythema.  There is an impressive amount of gas extending up the fascial planes in the upper left leg, gluteal area, extending through the sciatic foramen into the pelvic cavity.  This is consistent with necrotizing fasciitis and this extent of involvement has a very poor prognosis.  The source was likely a sacral decubitus ulcer. 

Author:  Russell Jones, MD.

This patient came in shortly after a high speed motor-vehicle collision.  Here is the patient’s CT abdomen with IV contrast:

This is an interesting CT as it demonstrates “active extravasation” of IV contrast.  The patient has a large left kidney fracture.  You can see a hematoma surrounding the area where you would expect the kidney.  In that hematoma there is a mix of low attenuation material and high attenuation material.  Both of these represent blood; the high attenuation is contrast material that leaking into the hematoma (some of the high attenuation includes perfusing kidney fragments but most of it is extravasating contrast).  The low attenuation is blood that collected before IV contrast administration.

Practically speaking, this means that there is active bleeding into this hematoma.  This is BAD and represents a large amount of bleeding that needs to be stopped.  The patient was actually relatively stable and was taken to interventional radiology where the offending lesion was embolized.

Author:  Russell Jones, MD

This gentleman presented to the ED with headache that began several days prior.  He has a history of disseminated coccidioidomycosis:

Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis  (DC) is rarely associated with intracerebral hemorrhage.  Not something we will see everyday!

Here is a brief discussion from the American Journal of Neuroradiology about two cases of fatal intracerebral hemorrhage from DC:

Coccidiomycosis ICH

Some highlights:

• Coccidioides immitus resides in the topsoil of the Southwestern United States.  There are 60-80,000 new cases of coccidioidomycosis every year with disseminated disease occuring in less than 1% of the population.
• Vasculitis may occur and usually causes ischemic CNS events but can lead to hemorrhage as well
• Two case reports are discussed.  A 74-year-old male on chemotherapy for Waldenstrom’s macroglobinemia who had blood culture positive Coccidioidomycosis and developed signs of aphasia, confusion.  He ended up having a CT showing large parenchymal and subarachnoid hemorrhage  with a distal left middle cerebral artery aneurysm.  Second case was a 33-year-old male with a history of coccidioidal meningitis diagnosed a year earlier.  He came in with worsening headache and MR showed enlarging prepontine lesion with subtle enhancement.  He died suddenly and on autopsy had subarachnoid hemorrhage.  Numerus necrotic spherules of Coccidioides immitis were found in perivascular spaces and his basilar artery had full-thickness granulomatous changes with necrosis through the vascular wall.

Author:  Russell Jones, M.D.

References:

1.  Erly WK, Labadie E, Williams PL, Lee DM, Carmody RF, Seeger JF.  Disseminated Coccidioidomycocsis Complicated by Vasculitis:  A Cause of Fatal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Two Cases.  Am J Neuroradiol 20: 1605-1608, October 1999.