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Edlow JA, Bellolio F. Recognizing Posterior Circulation Transient Ischemic Attacks Presenting as Episodic Isolated Dizziness. Ann Emerg Med 2024:S0196-0644(24)00214-2. [PMID: 38795083 DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2024.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/27/2024]
Abstract
Diagnosing patients presenting to the emergency department with self-limited episodes of isolated dizziness (the episodic vestibular syndrome) requires a broad differential diagnosis that includes posterior circulation transient ischemic attack. Because these patients are, by definition, asymptomatic without new neurologic findings on examination, the diagnosis, largely based on history and epidemiologic context, can be challenging. We review literature that addresses the frequency of posterior circulation transient ischemic attack in this group of patients compared with other potential causes of episodic vestibular syndrome. We present ways of distinguishing posterior circulation transient ischemic attack from vestibular migraine, the most common cause of episodic vestibular syndrome. We also present a diagnostic algorithm that may help clinicians to work their way through the differential diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan A Edlow
- Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
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Edlow JA, Carpenter C, Akhter M, Khoujah D, Marcolini E, Meurer WJ, Morrill D, Naples JG, Ohle R, Omron R, Sharif S, Siket M, Upadhye S, E Silva LOJ, Sundberg E, Tartt K, Vanni S, Newman-Toker DE, Bellolio F. Guidelines for reasonable and appropriate care in the emergency department 3 (GRACE-3): Acute dizziness and vertigo in the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med 2023; 30:442-486. [PMID: 37166022 DOI: 10.1111/acem.14728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
This third Guideline for Reasonable and Appropriate Care in the Emergency Department (GRACE-3) from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine is on the topic adult patients with acute dizziness and vertigo in the emergency department (ED). A multidisciplinary guideline panel applied the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to assess the certainty of evidence and strength of recommendations regarding five questions for adult ED patients with acute dizziness of less than 2 weeks' duration. The intended population is adults presenting to the ED with acute dizziness or vertigo. The panel derived 15 evidence-based recommendations based on the timing and triggers of the dizziness but recognizes that alternative diagnostic approaches exist, such as the STANDING protocol and nystagmus examination in combination with gait unsteadiness or the presence of vascular risk factors. As an overarching recommendation, (1) emergency clinicians should receive training in bedside physical examination techniques for patients with the acute vestibular syndrome (AVS; HINTS) and the diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV; Dix-Hallpike test and Epley maneuver). To help distinguish central from peripheral causes in patients with the AVS, we recommend: (2) use HINTS (for clinicians trained in its use) in patients with nystagmus, (3) use finger rub to further aid in excluding stroke in patients with nystagmus, (4) use severity of gait unsteadiness in patients without nystagmus, (5) do not use brain computed tomography (CT), (6) do not use routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a first-line test if a clinician trained in HINTS is available, and (7) use MRI as a confirmatory test in patients with central or equivocal HINTS examinations. In patients with the spontaneous episodic vestibular syndrome: (8) search for symptoms or signs of cerebral ischemia, (9) do not use CT, and (10) use CT angiography or MRI angiography if there is concern for transient ischemic attack. In patients with the triggered (positional) episodic vestibular syndrome, (11) use the Dix-Hallpike test to diagnose posterior canal BPPV (pc-BPPV), (12) do not use CT, and (13) do not use MRI routinely, unless atypical clinical features are present. In patients diagnosed with vestibular neuritis, (14) consider short-term steroids as a treatment option. In patients diagnosed with pc-BPPV, (15) treat with the Epley maneuver. It is clear that as of 2023, when applied in routine practice by emergency clinicians without special training, HINTS testing is inaccurate, partly due to use in the wrong patients and partly due to issues with its interpretation. Most emergency physicians have not received training in use of HINTS. As such, it is not standard of care, either in the legal sense of that term ("what the average physician would do in similar circumstances") or in the common parlance sense ("the standard action typically used by physicians in routine practice").
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan A Edlow
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Christopher Carpenter
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Murtaza Akhter
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Penn State School of Medicine, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
- Hershey Medical Center, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Danya Khoujah
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Adventhealth Tampa, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Evie Marcolini
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
| | - William J Meurer
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | | | - James G Naples
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Division of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Robert Ohle
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
- Health Science North Research Institute, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Health Sciences North, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
| | - Rodney Omron
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Sameer Sharif
- Division of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matt Siket
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Robert Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
| | - Suneel Upadhye
- Emergency Medicine, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
- Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact (HEI), McMaster University, Burlington, Ontario, Canada
| | - Lucas Oliveira J E Silva
- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Etta Sundberg
- COO Royal Oasis Pool and Spas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
| | - Karen Tartt
- Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, San Francisco, California, USA
- St. George Spirits, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Simone Vanni
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy
- Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Careggi, Firenze, Italy
| | - David E Newman-Toker
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Fernanda Bellolio
- Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
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Edlow JA, Kerber K. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: A Practical Approach for Emergency Physicians. Acad Emerg Med 2022; 30:579-588. [PMID: 35833326 DOI: 10.1111/acem.14558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a very common condition in the population and an important cause of acute vertigo or dizziness in patients presenting to an emergency department (ED). Despite this, abundant evidence shows that current ED management of patients with BPPV is suboptimal. Common ED management processes include brain imaging and treatment with vestibular suppressant medications such as meclizine, neither of which is recommended by current guidelines. The most efficient management of BPPV is to perform a bedside test (Dix-Hallpike test) and then to treat the patients with a bedside positional (the Epley) maneuver. In this practical review we emphasize the efficient management for the most common form of BPPV-posterior canal BPPV. Using this management will reduce resource utilization (laboratory testing, brain imaging, specialist consultation), reduce ED length of stay, and reduce use of ineffective mediations that have side effects but little therapeutic effect. Application of these practices would improve important patient-centered outcomes such as symptom reduction, radiation exposure, side effects from medications, and less need for urgent follow-up with another health care provider. The article also discusses the approach to patients in whom the Dix-Hallpike and/or Epley maneuvers do not seem to work. This includes a discussion the second most common variant of BPPV (horizontal canal BPPV) and criteria for safe discharge of patients. Another important advantage of learning BPPV best practices is that it is enormously satisfying for the clinician, not unlike treating a child with a nursemaid's elbow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan A Edlow
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.,Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
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Abstract
Vestibular symptoms, including dizziness, vertigo, and unsteadiness, are common presentations in the emergency department. Most cases have benign causes, such as vestibular apparatus dysfunction or orthostatic hypotension. However, dizziness can signal a more sinister condition, such as an acute cerebrovascular event or high-risk cardiac arrhythmia. A contemporary approach to clinical evaluation that emphasizes symptom duration and triggers along with a focused oculomotor and neurologic examination can differentiate peripheral causes from more serious central causes of vertigo. Patients with high-risk features should get brain MRI as the diagnostic investigation of choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Voetsch
- Department of Neurology, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, 41 Mall Road, Burlington, MA 1805, USA; Tufts University School of Medicine, Burlington, MA, USA.
| | - Siddharth Sehgal
- Department of Neurology, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, 41 Mall Road, Burlington, MA 1805, USA; Tufts University School of Medicine, Burlington, MA, USA
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Abstract
Using an algorithmic approach to acutely dizzy patients, physicians can often confidently make a specific diagnosis that leads to correct treatment and should reduce the misdiagnosis of cerebrovascular events. Emergency clinicians should try to become familiar with an approach that exploits timing and triggers as well as some basic "rules" of nystagmus. The gait should always be tested in all patients who might be discharged. Computed tomographic scans are unreliable to exclude posterior circulation stroke presenting as dizziness, and early MRI (within the first 72 hours) also misses 10% to 20% of these cases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kiersten L Gurley
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; Anna Jaques Hospital, Newburyport, MA, USA.
| | - Jonathan A Edlow
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
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