A respiratory emergency room admissions monitoring system (RERAMS) was set up in Barcelona between 1985-1989, in order to investigate asthma epidemics in the city. Information on emergency room admissions for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was recorded daily from the four main hospitals of the city. The present study aims at assessing the reliability and coverage of thi...

Renal colic pain due to an obstructing stone is the main renal cause of acute flank pain; however, other causes may be responsible for the same clinical findings, including acute pyelonephritis, acute vascular conditions, and hemorrhage. The purpose of this review is to describe the differential diagnosis, the CT findings and pitfalls, and the role and impact of CT in the diagnosis and manageme...

Metabolic diseases can vary as much in clinical presentation as they can in classification, and neonates and infants frequently present with symptoms similar to those seen with other emergencies. Vomiting, alterations in neurologic status, and feeding difficulties are the most prominent features of metabolic emergencies. This article discusses the recognition and management of specific disorder...

Hematological emergencies are defined as acute life-threatening conditions in hematological diseases due to benign blood disorders or hematological malignancies or as a result of its treatment. This article deals of the most common emergencies encountered by hematologists. Emerging clinical situations, predictable or not, are common in the treatment of hematological diseases. However, the rapid...

The diagnosis and management of acute heart failure requires knowledge of hemodynamics beyond that offered by the traditional vital signs of blood pressure and heart rate. In the past, an advanced determination of hemodynamic status required the insertion of a catheter directly into the heart. As a result of the significant patient morbidity and mortality associated with this invasive procedure...

Oncologic emergencies represent a wide variety of conditions that can occur at any time during the course of a malignancy, from an initial presenting manifestation in someone with an undiagnosed cancer, to end-stage incurable metastatic disease. Emergent conditions can also arise after a malignancy has been in remission for many years, even decades, so clinicians must be aware of any prior hist...