Tag: subarachnoid

Question Of The Day #44

question of the day
~ Joseph Ciano, USA ~ Leave a comment

Which of the following is the most appropriate next investigation to confirm this patient’s diagnosis?

  • A) Lumbar puncture
  • B) 12-lead EKG
  • C) MRI of brain
  • D) Noncontrast CT scan of head

This patient presents to the Emergency Department with altered mental status.  This presenting symptom can be due to a large variety of etiologies, including hypoglycemia, sepsis, toxic ingestions, electrolyte abnormalities, stroke, and more.  The management and evaluation of a patient with altered mental status depends on the primary assessment of the patient (“ABCs”, or Airway, Breathing, Circulation) to identify any acute life-threatening conditions that need to be managed emergently, the history, and the physical examination.  One mnemonic that may help in remembering the many causes of altered mental status is “AEIOUTIPS”.  The table below outlines this mnemonic.

ALTERED MENTAL STATUS

The information provided indicates that the patient’s headache was maximal at onset, severe, associated with vomiting, and led to a deteriorating mental status ultimately requiring intubation.  This history is very concerning for intracranial bleeding, especially subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).  The majority of atraumatic SAHs are caused by the rupture of a saccular aneurysm.  This causes the leakage of blood into the subarachnoid space.  Symptoms of a SAH are sudden onset headache that is maximal intensity at onset (“thunderclap headache”), syncope, vomiting, seizures, and any neurological deficits.  Risk factors for SAH are age over 50years-old, family history of SAH, alcohol abuse, tobacco smoking, Marfan Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Polycystic Kidney Disease.  Diagnosis of SAH takes into account the patient’s history, physical exam, and risk factors. 

Patients that arrive in the Emergency Department under 6hours since symptom onset should initially get a noncontrast CT scan of the head (Choice D).  When a noncontrast head CT is performed in this time window, its sensitivity reaches 98-100%.  Noncontrast head CTs performed within the first 24hrs since headache onset have a sensitivity of about 90%.  Patients with signs and symptoms concerning for SAH who have a negative CT head should get a lumbar puncture (Choice A) to evaluate for xanthochromia.  This is especially important if the patient’s symptoms have been for over 6 hours.  A 12-lead EKG (Choice B) can show ST and T wave changes, but an EKG alone cannot be used to make a diagnosis of SAH.  A brain MRI (Choice C) can make the diagnosis of SAH, but a CT scan would be preferred due to greater CT scan accessibility, cost, and the shorter time of this imaging test.  The best next investigation would be a noncontrast CT of the head (Choice D).

Correct Answer: D

Want Another Question?

References

Cite this article as: Joseph Ciano, USA, "Question Of The Day #44," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, July 2, 2021, https://iem-student.org/2021/07/02/question-of-the-day-44/, date accessed: March 26, 2023

Doctor, My Head Hurts!

DOCTOR, MY HEAD HURTS
~ Arthur Martins, Brasil ~ Leave a comment

February was the last of my three months at Family Medicine clinical rotation. In addition to normal clinical consultations, we also had to take turns attending spontaneous demands coming “from the street”, in a primary care resource center that works similar to a green zone setting in the ED. During these three months, I’ve noticed that, sometimes, the easiest patient to manage is that one with a major complaint like chest pain, severe dyspnea, altered mental status, and so on. Things become more difficult, however, when you have a patient that has just a headache, a very common symptom, but one that could be related to an enormous variety of conditions, some of which life-threatening. Sometimes, you dig under the “green” patient and discover a secret “yellow” or even a “red” condition.

Next, I will try to put some light on the investigation of one of the most common complaints I’ve seen, and one of the symptoms that always put a bug in the ear: Headache.

Epidemiology

Headache is a very common complaint at the Emergency Department, being the fifth leading cause of ED visits¹. Alarmingly, about 0.5% of patients who had presented with a headache and discharged home have returned with a serious condition, of which 18% were acute ischemic stroke.²

Clinical Presentation

Patients can describe headache, a very nonspecific and hard to clarify complaint, in diverse ways, ranging from saying solely “my head hurts” to making a circular gesture around his/her head with. Therefore, identifying potential risk factors that can alert us to potential adverse outcomes. Here are a few decision rules for patients with headache:

SNNOOP10

The mnemonic SNNOOP10³ refers to the red flag symptom and findings to screen, which may point to related secondary headaches.

snnoop10

Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule

Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule fundamentally helps to rule out (Sensitivity: 100% Specificity: 15%) subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in patients with headache. You can apply this rule ONLY IF:

  • The patient is alert and older than 15 years old with
  • New severe non-traumatic headache, reaching maximum intensity within 1 hour and
  • NO new neurological deficits, no history of intracranial tumors, previous SAH or aneurysms, and similar headaches (≥ 3 episodes over ≥ 6 months)

Risk factors are:

  1. Age ≥ 40
  2. Neck pain or stiffness
  3. Witnessed loss of consciousness
  4. Onset during exertion
  5. “Thunderclap headache” (defined as instantly and immediately peaked pain)
  6. Limited neck flexion on examination (defined as the inability to touch chin to chest or raise head 3 cm off the bed if supine)

If ANY of these factors is present, SAH can not be ruled out, and this patient needs further investigation. A recent study has assessed the performance of the Ottawa decision rule for patients presenting with headache in the ED, showing that it is a highly sensitive test (100%), making it useful in order to “not miss the disguised red patient.”5 Not by coincidence, Tintinalli’s book states with bold letters: “Acute onset of a severe headache is subarachnoid hemorrhage until proven otherwise.”

Acute onset of a severe headache is subarachnoid hemorrhage until proven otherwise.

Tintinalli's Comprehensive Study Guide Tweet

Investigation

Neuroimaging is a valuable diagnostic tool but is also an expensive one. Besides, it can be harmful due to radiation exposure or contrast use.

There is a lot of controversy in the literature regarding the question “When to image patients with a headache?”, but the consensus is to image when a patient presents with red flags, especially those related to vascular causes, raised intracranial pressure and focal signs.4

CT scan is the preferred method to investigate SAH, with excellent sensitivity and specificity (both bigger than 90%) in the first 6 hours of hemorrhage.6 However, if more time has passed, other diagnostic tools will probably be required in this case. Also, as said before, the costs are a major factor regarding neuroimaging, and sometimes you have to use what you have.

Lumbar Puncture

  • Indications7:
    • Suspected infectious disease of the CNS
    • Suspected SAH
    • Suspected idiopathic intracranial hypertension – as diagnostic and treatment
  • Contraindications7:
    • Coagulopathy (including anticoagulant drugs) or thrombocytopenia
    • Infection at the puncture site
    • Suspected epidural abscess
    • Findings on the CT scan to deferring LP
    • Brainstem herniation
    • Mass with signs of compression of the 4th ventricle
    • Signs of increased intracranial pressure or midline shift
    • Acute intracranial hematoma

Disposition and Follow-up(7,8)

  • Most patients can be discharged with a simple painkiller prescription. About 95% of patients presenting to the ED with headache have a benign etiology and don’t need further investigation in the ED.
  • The acute benign headache usually resolves with acetaminophen, NSAIDs, hydration, and rest.
  • An adequate follow-up plan is a good practice since most headaches are due to chronic conditions that may benefit from pharmacologic prophylaxis as well as lifestyle modifications.

This subject is open to discussion. Although it looks (and it is) a simple and easy-to-manage condition 90% of times, it has the potential to give the doctor some headache, too!

References and Further Reading

  1. American College of Emergency Physicians Clinical Policies Subcommittee (Writing Committee) on Acute Headache:, Godwin, S. A., Cherkas, D. S., Panagos, P. D., Shih, R. D., Byyny, R., & Wolf, S. J. (2019). Clinical Policy: Critical Issues in the Evaluation and Management of Adult Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Acute Headache. Annals of emergency medicine, 74(4), e41–e74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2019.07.009
  2. Dubosh, N. M., Edlow, J. A., Goto, T., Camargo, C. A., Jr, & Hasegawa, K. (2019). Missed Serious Neurologic Conditions in Emergency Department Patients Discharged With Nonspecific Diagnoses of Headache or Back Pain. Annals of emergency medicine, 74(4), 549–561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2019.01.020
  3. Do, T. P., Remmers, A., Schytz, H. W., Schankin, C., Nelson, S. E., Obermann, M., Hansen, J. M., Sinclair, A. J., Gantenbein, A. R., & Schoonman, G. G. (2019). Red and orange flags for secondary headaches in clinical practice: SNNOOP10 list. Neurology, 92(3), 134–144. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000006697
  4. Good C. (2019). British Society Of Neuroradiologists Guidelines for Headache. Retrieved July 23, 2020, from https://bsnr.org.uk/_userfiles/pages/files/standards_and_guidelines/bsnr_guidelines_for_imaging_in_headache_april_2019_final.pdf
  5. Wu, W. T., Pan, H. Y., Wu, K. H., Huang, Y. S., Wu, C. H., & Cheng, F. J. (2020). The Ottawa subarachnoid hemorrhage clinical decision rule for classifying emergency department headache patients. The American journal of emergency medicine, 38(2), 198–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2019.02.003
  6. Kwiatkowski T. and Friedman B. W. (2018). Headache Disorders. In: R. M. Walls, R. S. Hockberger, M. Gausche-Hill, K. Bakes, J. M. Baren, T. B. Erickson, A. S. Jagoda, A. H. Kaji, M. VanRooyen, R. D. Zane, (Eds.) Rosen’s Emergency Medicine Concepts and Clinical Practice (9th ed. pp: 1265-1277). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.
  7. Perry, J. J., Stiell, I. G., Sivilotti, M. L., Bullard, M. J., Emond, M., Symington, C., Sutherland, J., Worster, A., Hohl, C., Lee, J. S., Eisenhauer, M. A., Mortensen, M., Mackey, D., Pauls, M., Lesiuk, H., & Wells, G. A. (2011). Sensitivity of computed tomography performed within six hours of onset of headache for diagnosis of subarachnoid haemorrhage: prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.), 343, d4277. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4277
Cite this article as: Arthur Martins, Brasil, "Doctor, My Head Hurts!," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, August 24, 2020, https://iem-student.org/2020/08/24/doctor-my-head-hurts/, date accessed: March 26, 2023

Question Of The Day #4

question of the day
~ Joseph Ciano, USA ~ Leave a comment
question of the day 4

Which of the following is the most appropriate next step in management for this patient‘s condition?

  • A) Lumbar Puncture
  • B) IV 1000mL 0.9% NaCl
  • C) IV Ceftriaxone
  • D) Non-contrast CT head

This patient describes her headache as severe, sudden-onset, and different than her prior headaches. These clues on history should raise concern for a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) as the cause of her headache. Choice A (Lumbar Puncture) helps evaluate headaches caused by meningitis, pseudotumor cerebri (idiopathic intracranial hypertension), and SAH. Choice B (IV 1000mL 0.9% NaCl) is sometimes used to treat headaches, like migraines, but this patient should first receive another testing as there is a concern for SAH. Choice C (IV Ceftriaxone) is the correct initial treatment for bacterial meningitis, but this patient has a higher pretest probability for SAH. Choice D (Non-contrast CT head) is the right answer. Non-contrast CT scan of the brain performed within 6 hours of headache onset have high sensitivity to rule out aneurysmal SAH. The sensitivity of the non-contrast CT scan diminishes to 91-93% at 24hours after headache onset and continues to decrease after this to 50% sensitivity at seven days after pain onset. Lumbar puncture is recommended for a patient with a negative CT scan, high pretest probability for SAH, and presentation after 6 hours of headache onset. Findings on Lumbar Puncture that support the diagnosis of SAH include Xanthochromia (yellow appearance of the CSF due to blood breakdown) and inadequate clearing of red blood cells in the CSF between tubes 1 and 4. Treatment for SAH includes blood pressure control, seizure prophylaxis, and neurosurgical consultation, and nimodipine to prevent vasospasm and rebleeding. The Hunt and Hess scoring system can be used to predict clinical outcomes for patients with SAH. Correct Answer: D

Reference

Nelson AM, Mase CA, Ma O. Spontaneous Subarachnoid and Intracerebral Hemorrhage. “Chapter 166: Spontaneous Subarachnoid and Intracerebral Hemorrhage”. In: Tintinalli JE, Ma O, Yealy DM, Meckler GD, Stapczynski J, Cline DM, Thomas SH. eds. Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide, 9th ed. McGraw-Hill.

Cite this article as: Joseph Ciano, USA, "Question Of The Day #4," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, July 15, 2020, https://iem-student.org/2020/07/15/question-of-the-day-3-2/, date accessed: March 26, 2023

A 24-year-old woman presents with headache

~ iEM Education Project Team ~ Leave a comment

by Stacey Chamberlain

A 24-year-old woman presents with headache that began three hours prior to arrival to the ED. The patient was at rest when the headache began. The headache was not described as “thunderclap,” but it did reach maximum severity within the first 30 minutes. The headache is generalized and rated 10/10. She denies head trauma, weakness, numbness, and tingling in her extremities. She denies visual changes, changes in speech and neck pain. She has not taken anything for the headache. She does not have a family history of cerebral aneurysms or polycystic kidney disease. On physical exam, she has a normal neurologic exam and normal neck flexion.

Should you do a head CT and/or a lumbar puncture to evaluate for a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage in this patient?

Ottawa SAH Rule

Investigate if ≥1 high-risk variables present

  • Age ≥ 40
  • Neck pain or stiffness
  • Witnessed loss of consciousness
  • Onset during exertion
  • Thunderclap headache (instantly peaking pain)
  • Limited neck flexion on exam

A CDR to determine risk for sub-arachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was derived and has been externally validated in a single study. The CDR’s purpose was to identify those at high risk for SAH and included those with acute non-traumatic headaches that reached maximal intensity within one hour and who had normal neurologic exams. Of note, the rule has many inclusion and exclusion criteria that the ED physician must be familiar with and was only derived for patients 16 years or older. The study authors note that the CDR is to identify patients with SAH; it is not an acute headache rule. In the validation study, of over 5,000 ED visits with acute headache, only 9% of those met inclusion criteria. Also, clinical gestalt again plays a role as the authors suggest not to apply the CDR to those who are ultra-high risk with a pre-test probability for SAH of > 50%.

The Ottawa SAH Rule was 100% sensitive but did not lead to reduction of testing vs. current practice. The authors state that the value of the Ottawa SAH Rule would be to standardize physician practice in order to avoid the relatively high rate of missed sub-arachnoid hemorrhages.

Case Discussion

By applying the Ottawa SAH Rule, this patient is low risk and does not require further investigation for a SAH.

More Clinical Decision Rules by Stacey Chamberlain
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Clinical Images On iEM Flickr
Headache Chapter
Cite this article as: iEM Education Project Team, "A 24-year-old woman presents with headache," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, May 29, 2019, https://iem-student.org/2019/05/29/a-24-year-old-woman-presents-with-headache/, date accessed: March 26, 2023

Sudden Severe Headache

~ iEM Education Project Team ~ Leave a comment
665- SAH

In case you didn’t encounter a sudden severe headache today!

A 46-year-old female patient presented with severe headache. BP: 178/88 mmHg, HR: 103 bpm, RR: 22/min, T: 37, SpO2: 98% in room air. She has no history of disease. She is unconscious (GCS E1, V3, M4). No obvious lateralized motor deficit. Bedside gluco-check is normal. You intubated her to secure airway and send her to the CT (above image). What is your next action?

Read "How to read head CT" Chapter
Read "Headache" Chapter

iEM Education Project Team uploads many clinical picture and videos to the Flickr and YouTube. These images are free to use in education. You can also support this global EM education initiative by providing your resources. Sharing is caring!