Transient leukocytosis in Emergency Room: An overlooked issue

Leukocytosis is regarded as a reliable marker of a serious disorder requiring hospitalization. However, leukocytosis often disappears once the patient is admitted to a medical ward; differential diagnosis of leukocytosis is often overlooked in the busy Emergency Room (ER) routine. We retrospectively evaluated the clinical records of 565 consecutive patients admitted to the Department of Internal Medicine (DIM) after examination in ER. Mean leukocyte count was 11.4x10(9)/L in ER and 10.1x10(9)/L in DIM (P<0.001). Leukocytosis was found in 53.1% of patients in ER, but in 33% of these it was no longer evident on the following day, unrelated to baseline white blood cells (WBC) count, age, sex, diagnosis, C-reactive protein level and early antibiotic treatment. A reduction in WBC count larger than 40% from baseline occurred in 13.6% of all subjects, and in 31.7% of those with transient leukocytosis. Leukocytosis in ER is frequent, but it is often transient and not associated with an infectious cause. Other causes, including psychological stress caused by the ER access itself, should be considered in the differential diagnosis

Intermittent Flushing with Heparin Versus Saline for Maintenance of Peripheral Intravenous Catheters in a Medical Department: A Pragmatic Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study

Background: Three meta-analyses conducted in the 1990s concluded that the effect of intermittent flushing with heparin at low concentration (10 U/mL) was equivalent to that of 0.9% sodium chloride flushes in preventing occlusion or superficial phlebitis. No firm conclusion was reached on the safety and efficacy of heparin concentrations of 100 U/mL used as an intermittent flush. Purpose: To determine whether flushing peripheral intravenous catheters with 3 mL of a 100 U heparin/mL solution instead of saline improves the outcome of infusion devices. Methods: Cluster-randomized, controlled, two-arm, open trial, conducted in a research and teaching hospital in Northern Italy, involving 214 medical patients without contraindications to heparin: 107 randomly allocated to heparin and 107 to saline flushes (control group). Main outcome measure was catheter occlusion and catheter-related phlebitis. Results: Patients with either phlebitis or occlusion were 45 (42.1%) in the heparin group and 68 (63.6%) in the saline group (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.240.72; p = 0.002); patients with occlusion alone were 23 (21.5%) and 47 (43.9%), respectively (p = 0.03); patients with phlebitis alone were 28 (26.2%) and 56 (52.6%) respectively (p = <0.001). Similar results were obtained when the analysis was based on catheters. No heparin severe side effects were identified. Limitations: Lack of blinding, patient selection, cluster randomization of periods of treatment. Conclusions: Heparin 100 U/mL in the maintenance of peripheral venous catheters was more effective than saline solution, in that it reduced the number of catheter-related phlebitis/occlusions and the number of catheters per patient, with potential advantages to both patients and the health system. It also appeared safe. However, subjects with platelet or coagulation defects were excluded, and, therefore, caution should be used when prescribing this type of catheter maintenance to patients at risk of bleeding

Rate and risk factors of in-hospital and early post-discharge mortality in patients admitted to an internal medicine ward

Background: We sought to quantify in-hospital and early post-discharge mortality rates in hospitalised patients. Methods: Consecutive adult patients admitted to an internal medicine ward were prospectively enrolled. The rates of in-hospital and 4-month post-discharge mortality and their possible associated sociodemographic and clinical factors (eg Cumulative Illness Rating Scale [CIRS], body mass index [BMI], polypharmacy, Barthel Index) were assessed. Results: 1,451 patients (median age 80 years, IQR 69-86; 53% female) were included. Of these, 93 (6.4%) died in hospital, while 4-month post-discharge mortality was 15.9% (191/1,200). Age and high dependency were associated (p<0.01) with a higher risk of in-hospital (OR 1.04 and 2.15) and 4-month (HR 1.04 and 1.65) mortality, while malnutrition and length of stay were associated (p<0.01) with a higher risk of 4-month mortality (HR 2.13 and 1.59). Conclusions: Several negative prognostic factors for early mortality were found. Interventions addressing dependency and malnutrition could potentially decrease early post-discharge mortality