FOAMed Digest #6 Update: The Paper Trail
Today, we'd like to introduce a new section to the Everyday EBM FOAMed Digest, which will be published as a standalone post. It may seem a bit counterintuitive, but each week we're going to draw your attention to some of the latest-and-greatest papers from the primary EM literature. Most of these will not be open-access, but we hope you can still access them via the medical library at your institution. A lot of the discussion in the FOAMed world centers around recently-published papers from EM journals. The EM trainee should view FOAMed as a tool to assist with understanding and analysis of this literature, as a forum for discussion and further discovery -- not as a replacement for reading the papers for his/her self. We'll provide you a very short summary here and link you to relevant FOAMed resources if applicable.
1) This week, it's impossible to hold any discussion of EM literature this week and not start with the ARISE trial. Hot on the heels of ProCESS, the results of this trial appear to confirm what resuscitationists have long suspected: in terms of sepsis care, you don't have to do a lot of s***, you just have to give a s*** (H/t Dr. Weingart).
Briefly, this multi-center RCT enrolled over 1600 patients from 51 hospitals (mostly in Australia & New Zealand) who presented to an ED with suspected infection, 2+ SIRS criteria, and refractory hypotension (low SBP after 1L IVF) and/or hypoperfusion (lactate >4). These patients were randomized to receive EGDT (as ensured by a dedicated sepsis response team) or "usual care," which allowed for treatment at the physicians' discretion except that ScvO2 measurement was not permitted within the first 6 hours of therapy. There was no difference in the primary outcome, mortality at 90 days.
Needless to say, this publication has got the FOAMed world all atwitter (pun intended).
- The best high-yield summary with all the relevant info can be found on The Bottom Line. Also includes links to other FOAM resources, and excellent tables comparing the Rivers trial to the "holy trinity" of modern sepsis studies -- ProCESS, ARISE, and ProMISe.
- EM Lit of Note also published a short piece.
- Scott Weingart of course has an excellent summary on his latest EMCrit podcast, which has the added bonus of including references to two other recently published papers. The TRISS trial from NEJM found no differences in clinical outcomes when using transfusion goals of 9 g/dL vs. 7 g/dL. A retrospective study by Ferrer et al published in Critical Care this month again demonstrates that delayed time to antibiotics for patients with severe sepsis/septic shock increases mortality in a near-linear fashion. (The Bottom Line summary of the Ferrer study here).
- The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine posted an interview and a presentation by the lead author of ARISE, Dr. Sandra Peake.
The ARISE trial is probably more than enough to keep you busy, but a few more items for your perusal:
2) The Dalai Lama of PE diagnosis in the ED, Dr. Jeffrey Kline, is back at it again, this time with a systematic review and meta-analysis of pregnant patients undergoing investigation for PE in the ED. Seventeen studies including over 25,000 patients were analyzed, and Dr. Kline's team found a lower rate of VTE among pregnant patients compared with nonpregnant patients, with a pooled risk ratio of 0.60 (95% CI 0.41-0.87). Dr. Kline cautions, "We do not interpret these data to indicate that pregnant patients have a lower risk of PE when compared to healthy nonpregnant patients. Instead, we believe that our data illustrate that clinicians order testing at a low test threshold among pregnant patients." Well worth a read.
- Our own Captain Cranium, Dr. Chris Carpenter provided a commentary to this piece, astutely summarizing the controversy of PE overdiagnosis.
- Sarah Sanders, a 4th year medical student (!) posted an excellent summary of this paper and other current research to the EM Curious blog.
3) While this next paper is perhaps not of the most relevance to the EM trainee, its publication should be a source of pride for all of us here at Wash U. The results from the Contraception CHOICE Project, conducted entirely here in St. Louis by the Washington University OB/Gyn Department, were published in the NEJM this week. Through private funding, the investigators were able to provide young women enrolling in the study their choice of birth control method, with special emphasis on Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) such as implants or IUDs. Without cost as a barrier, 72% of the women enrolled chose a LARC method. Women utilizing LARC methods reported unintended pregnancy at a far lower rate than the national average, especially for those age 15-19 years. Really great work.
Never stop learning,
Sam Smith, PGY-3
1) This week, it's impossible to hold any discussion of EM literature this week and not start with the ARISE trial. Hot on the heels of ProCESS, the results of this trial appear to confirm what resuscitationists have long suspected: in terms of sepsis care, you don't have to do a lot of s***, you just have to give a s*** (H/t Dr. Weingart).
Briefly, this multi-center RCT enrolled over 1600 patients from 51 hospitals (mostly in Australia & New Zealand) who presented to an ED with suspected infection, 2+ SIRS criteria, and refractory hypotension (low SBP after 1L IVF) and/or hypoperfusion (lactate >4). These patients were randomized to receive EGDT (as ensured by a dedicated sepsis response team) or "usual care," which allowed for treatment at the physicians' discretion except that ScvO2 measurement was not permitted within the first 6 hours of therapy. There was no difference in the primary outcome, mortality at 90 days.
Needless to say, this publication has got the FOAMed world all atwitter (pun intended).
- The best high-yield summary with all the relevant info can be found on The Bottom Line. Also includes links to other FOAM resources, and excellent tables comparing the Rivers trial to the "holy trinity" of modern sepsis studies -- ProCESS, ARISE, and ProMISe.
- EM Lit of Note also published a short piece.
- Scott Weingart of course has an excellent summary on his latest EMCrit podcast, which has the added bonus of including references to two other recently published papers. The TRISS trial from NEJM found no differences in clinical outcomes when using transfusion goals of 9 g/dL vs. 7 g/dL. A retrospective study by Ferrer et al published in Critical Care this month again demonstrates that delayed time to antibiotics for patients with severe sepsis/septic shock increases mortality in a near-linear fashion. (The Bottom Line summary of the Ferrer study here).
- The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine posted an interview and a presentation by the lead author of ARISE, Dr. Sandra Peake.
The ARISE trial is probably more than enough to keep you busy, but a few more items for your perusal:
2) The Dalai Lama of PE diagnosis in the ED, Dr. Jeffrey Kline, is back at it again, this time with a systematic review and meta-analysis of pregnant patients undergoing investigation for PE in the ED. Seventeen studies including over 25,000 patients were analyzed, and Dr. Kline's team found a lower rate of VTE among pregnant patients compared with nonpregnant patients, with a pooled risk ratio of 0.60 (95% CI 0.41-0.87). Dr. Kline cautions, "We do not interpret these data to indicate that pregnant patients have a lower risk of PE when compared to healthy nonpregnant patients. Instead, we believe that our data illustrate that clinicians order testing at a low test threshold among pregnant patients." Well worth a read.
- Our own Captain Cranium, Dr. Chris Carpenter provided a commentary to this piece, astutely summarizing the controversy of PE overdiagnosis.
- Sarah Sanders, a 4th year medical student (!) posted an excellent summary of this paper and other current research to the EM Curious blog.
3) While this next paper is perhaps not of the most relevance to the EM trainee, its publication should be a source of pride for all of us here at Wash U. The results from the Contraception CHOICE Project, conducted entirely here in St. Louis by the Washington University OB/Gyn Department, were published in the NEJM this week. Through private funding, the investigators were able to provide young women enrolling in the study their choice of birth control method, with special emphasis on Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) such as implants or IUDs. Without cost as a barrier, 72% of the women enrolled chose a LARC method. Women utilizing LARC methods reported unintended pregnancy at a far lower rate than the national average, especially for those age 15-19 years. Really great work.
Never stop learning,
Sam Smith, PGY-3