ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate QT dispersion (QTd), which is the noninvasive marker of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death, and P-wave dispersion, which is the noninvasive marker of atrial arrhythmia, in patients with conversion disorder (CD).Patients and methodsA total of 60 patients with no known organic disease who were admitted to outpatient emergency clinic and were diagnosed with CD after psychiatric consultation were included in this study along with 60 healthy control subjects. Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Scale were administered to patients and 12-lead electrocardiogram measurements were obtained. Pd and QTd were calculated by a single blinded cardiologist.ResultsThere was no statistically significant difference in terms of age, sex, education level, socioeconomic status, weight, height, and body mass index between CD patients and controls. Beck Anxiety Inventory scores (25.2±10.8 and 3.8±3.2, respectively, P<0.001) and Beck Depression Scale scores (11.24±6.15 and 6.58±5.69, respectively, P<0.01) were significantly higher in CD patients. P-wave dispersion measurements did not show any significant differences between conversion patients and control group (46±5.7 vs 44±5.5, respectively, P=0.156). Regarding QTc and QTd, there was a statistically significant increase in all intervals in conversion patients (416±10 vs 398±12, P<0.001, and 47±4.8 vs 20±6.1, P<0.001, respectively).ConclusionA similar relation to that in literature between QTd and anxiety and somatoform disorders was also observed in CD patients. QTc and QTd were significantly increased compared to the control group in patients with CD. These results suggest a possibility of increased risk of ventricular arrhythmia resulting from QTd in CD patients. Larger samples are needed to evaluate the clinical course and prognosis in terms of arrhythmia risk in CD patients.

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Background:The readmission in the early period (RAEP) is defined as the admission of a patient to emergency department (ED) for the second time within 72 hours after discharge from the ED. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the disease, patient, doctor, and system related causes of RAEP. Study Design: Descriptive study. Methods: This study is a two-stage study that was conducted at Department of Emergency, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine. The causes of RAEP were defined as disease, patient, doctor, and system related causes. Results: A total of 46,800 adult patients admitted to ED during the study period and 779 (1.66%) patients required RAEP. After the exclusion criteria, 429 of these patients were included the study. The most common reasons for RAEP were renal colic in 46 (10.7%) patients. It was detected that 60.4% of the causes of RAEP were related to disease, 20.0% were related to the doctor, 12.1% were related to the patient, and 7.5% were related to the hospital management system. Conclusion: This study revealed that there are patient-, doctor-, and system-related preventable reasons for RAEP and the patients requiring RAEP constitute the high risk group.

Emergency physicians should be better able to recognise the clinical features of anaphylaxis, so as to treat the episode promptly and appropriately. Delay in diagnoses could lead to incomplete treatment and even be fatal.

BACKGROUND:This study aimed to discuss the effectiveness of Pneumoscan working with micropower impulse radar (MIR) technology in diagnosing pneumothorax (PTX) in the emergency department.