Objective: The third international consensus definition for sepsis and septic shock (sepsis 3) task force recently introduced qSOFA (quick sequential organ failure assessment) as a score for detection of patients at risk of sepsis outside of intensive care units. We performed this study to evaluate the validity of qSOFA for early detection and risk stratification of septic patients in emergency department. Methods: We conducted this study in an emergency department of the largest university affiliated hospital in northwest of Iran from Sept 2015 to Sept 2016. One hundred and forty patients who were SIRS positive with a suspected infection without alternative diagnosis and a microbiological proven infection were enrolled in this study. qSOFA was calculated for each patient and correlated with sepsis grades and mortality. Results: From 140 patients 84 (60%) had positive qSOFA score and 56 (40%) patients had negative qSOFA score. Our results showed that near half of patients with positive qSOFA expired during their stay in hospital while this was about 5% for patients with negative qSOFA. ROC curve of study regarding prediction of outcome with qSOFA showed an area under curve of 0.59. (P value: 0.04). Time spent to sepsis detection was 16 minutes shorter with qSOFA score compared to SIRS criteria in this study. Conclusion: In patients with suspected sepsis, qSOFA has acceptable value for risk stratification of severity, multi organ failure and mortality. It seems that education of medical staff and frequent screening of patients for warning signs can help to increase the value of qSOFA in prediction of mortality in critically ill septic patients. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.2031 How to cite this:Shahsavarinia K, Moharramzadeh P, Arvanagi RJ, Mahmoodpoor A. qSOFA score for prediction of sepsis outcome in emergency department. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.2031 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Objectives: In the present study, we sought to investigate the association between red cell distribution width (RDW) and stroke severity and outcome in patients who underwent anti-thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Results: In this prospective study, 282 stroke patients who underwent tPA injection were included. The categorization of RDW to < 12.9% and > 13% values revealed insignificant difference in stroke severity score, accounting for the mean 36-h NIHSS of 8.19 ± 8.2 in normal RDW values and 9.94 ± 8.28in higher RDW group (p = 0.64). In seventh day, NIHSS was 6.46 ± 7.28 in normal RDW group and was 8.52 ± 8.35 in increased RDW group (p = 0.058). Neither the 36-h, nor the seventh day and 3-month mRS demonstrated significant difference between those with normal and higher RDW values.

Introduction:Techniques for measuring volume status of critically ill patients include invasive, less invasive, or noninvasive ones. The present study aims to assess the accuracy of noninvasive techniques for measuring volume status of critically ill patients.Patients and Methods:A total of 111 critically ill patients admitted to the emergency department and undergoing central venous catheterization were included in the study. Five parameters were measured including vascular pedicle width (VPW), diameter of inferior vena cava, caval index, respiratory changes in QRS, and P wave amplitude. Patients with risk factors which could decrease the accuracy of central venous pressure (CVP) value were excluded from study. We compared these parameters with static CVP parameter. Finally, based on the afore-mentioned parameters, PCQP role in criteria was designed.Results:In detecting loss of circulating blood volume, area under the curve of VPW was 0.92 (90%, confidence interval [CI]: 0.85–0.99), diameter of inferior vena cava was 0.82 (90%, CI: 0.72–0.91), caval index was 0.9 (90%, CI: 0.82–0.98), and changes in QRS and P waves were 0.88 (95%, CI: 0.81–0.95) and 0.73 (95%, CI: 0.63–0.82), respectively. PCQP role in criteria was designed according to these parameters, and at its best cutoff point (score 6), VPW had a sensitivity of 97.4% (95%, CI: 84.57–99.99) and specificity of 83.6% (95%, CI: 72.65–90.86) for the detection of loss of circulating blood volume (<8 cmH2O).Conclusion:PCQP score could be a reliable and noninvasive technique for the assessment of volume status in critically ill patients.

Introduction: The present study was an attempt to evaluate the role of ultrasonography on decreasing the number of attempts, failed punctures, time needed to perform the procedure and patients’ pain. Methods: This study is a prospective case-control. Patients were divided in two groups randomly. A two-dimensional probe was used to localize intervertebral space in the ultrasound guidance (US group). In manual palpation (MP group) however, insertion level was determined using the standard technique by manual palpation. The number of attempts (needle insertion) required for a successful tap and successful/unsuccessful attempts were considered as the primary outcome measures. Results: Male patients with an average age of 44.08±15.83 years accounted for 60% (30 individuals) of the population. Success rate was 92% in the US group and 34% in the MP group (P<0.001). It took 79.64± 19.91 and 85.4±11.62 minutes to identify the proper location in US and MP groups respectively (P=0.21). In the first attempt, it took 6.33±0.95 and 6.87±0.7 minutes to collect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in US and MP groups respectively (P=0.02). Average time taken to localize the sites in two attempts were 8.28±2.44 and 13.17±3.32 in US and MP groups respectively (P<0.001). Average number of attempts made in the US and MP groups were 1.08±0.27 and 1.64±0.66 (P<0.001) respectively. Conclusion: Ultrasonography has reduced the time needed for locating puncture to collect CSF, pain management in patients, determining the number of attempts, and defining the risk of traumatic puncture. Moreover, this technique is characterized by a higher success rate. Using ultrasonography in obese patients and people with lumbar problems is more important.

Objectives: In the present study, we sought to investigate the association between red cell distribution width (RDW) and stroke severity and outcome in patients who underwent anti-thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Results: In this prospective study, 282 stroke patients who underwent tPA injection were included. The categorization of RDW to <12.9% and >13% values revealed insignificant difference in stroke severity score, accounting for the mean 36-hour NIHSS of 8.19±8.2 in normal RDW values and 9.94±8.28in higher RDW group (p=0.64). In seventh day, NIHSS was 6.46±7.28 in normal RDW group and was 8.52±8.35 in increased RDW group (p=0.058). Neither the thirty-six-hour, nor the seventh day and 3-month mRS demonstrated significant difference between those with normal and higher RDW values.