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Credits
Physicians: .25 AMA PRA Category I CreditsTM
Family Physicians: .25 Prescribed credits
Nurse Practitioners: .25 Contact hours
Release Date: March 11, 2015
Expiration Date: March 11, 2016
Estimated Completion Time: 15 minutes
There is no fee for this activity.
To Receive Credit
In order to receive your certificate of participation, you should read the information about this activity, including the disclosure statements, review the entire activity, take the post-test, and complete the evaluation form. You may then follow the directions to print your certificate of participation. To begin, click the CME icon above.
Program Overview
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this educational program, the reader should be able to:
1. Discuss the significance of this article as it relates to your clinical practice.
2. Be able to apply this knowledge to your patient's diagnosis, treatment and management.
Faculty Information
Alan Ehrlich, MD
Assistant Professor in Family Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; Executive Deputy Editor, DynaMed, Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA
Michael Fleming, MD, FAAFP
Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Comprehensive Care, LSU Health Science Center School of Medicine, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA; Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tulane University Medical School, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Chief Medical Officer, Amedisys, Inc. & Antidote Education Company
Disclosures
Dr. Ehrlich, Dr. Fleming, DynaMed Editorial Team members, and the staff of Antidote Education Company have disclosed that they have no relevant financial relationships or conflicts of interest with commercial interests related directly or indirectly to this educational activity.
No commercial support has been received for this activity.
Accreditation Statements
ACCME: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of Antidote Education Company and EBSCO Publishing. Antidote is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Antidote Education Company designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
AAFP: This enduring material activity, DynaMed EBM Focus Volume 9, has been reviewed and is acceptable for up to 15.25 Prescribed credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians. AAFP certification begins March 5, 2014. Term of approval is for one year from this date. Each EBM Focus is approved for .25 Prescribed credits. Credit may be claimed for one year from the date of each update. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
AANP: This program is approved for 0.25 contact hour(s) of continuing education by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. This program was planned in accordance with AANP CE Standards and Policies and AANP Commercial Support Standards. Program ID: 1405237R2
Last week 898 journal articles were evaluated via DynaMed's Systematic Literature Surveillance and summaries of 232 articles were added to DynaMed content.
Based on criteria for selecting "articles most likely to inform clinical practice," one article was selected by the DynaMed Editorial Team.
Cerebrospinal Fluid Analysis with Red Blood Cell Count < 2,000 x 106 cells/L in the Final Tube and No Xanthochromia May Rule Out an Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Patients with Nontraumatic Acute Headache
Reference: BMJ 2015 Feb 18;350:h568 (level 2 [mid-level] evidence)
Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhages occur in 21,000-33,000 persons in the United States each year, with an incidence of 10.5 per 100,000 person–years worldwide (N Engl J Med 2006 Jan 26;354(4):387). A classic feature of a subarachnoid hemorrhage is the presence of a sudden onset severe headache (thunderclap headache) (Am Fam Physician 2013 May 15;87(10):682). While the usual approach is to perform a non-contrast computed tomographic (CT) scan of the brain in patients presenting to the emergency department with a thunderclap headache (Stroke 2012 Jun;43(6):1711), the sensitivity of CT for diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage decreases if the scan is performed more than 6 hours after headache onset (BMJ 2011 Jul 18;343:d4277, Stroke 2012 Aug;43(8):2115). In patients with a normal CT scan, but who are still considered to be at significant risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage, a lumbar puncture should be performed to assess for elevated opening pressure, xanthochromia, and red blood cells in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (N Engl J Med 2006 Jan 26;354(4):387). Unfortunately, it can be difficult to differentiate blood in the CSF from bleeding due to a traumatic tap, and further diagnostic procedures may be required to unequivocally rule out a subarachnoid hemorrhage. A recent diagnostic cohort study evaluated the cerebrospinal fluid of 1,739 alert patients presenting to the emergency department with acute non-traumatic headache to determine the optimal cutoff for distinguishing a traumatic lumbar puncture from red blood cells in the CSF caused by a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Abnormal CSF samples were defined as red blood cell counts > 1x106 cells/L in the final (fourth) tube or xanthochromia in any tube. CSF samples with increased white blood cell counts, but normal (< 1x106 cells/L) red blood cell counts in the final tube and no xanthochromia were considered normal. Patients were diagnosed with an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage if they had blood in the subarachnoid space on non-contrast brain CT, CSF with xanthochromia, or red blood cells in the final CSF tube plus an aneurysm on cerebral angiography. The patient also must have required neurovascular intervention or died to be included as a true positive. Non-aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhages were not included in this definition. Six hundred forty one patients (36.9%) had abnormal results after lumbar puncture and 15 patients (0.9%) were diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Of these 15 patients, 7 were diagnosed by the presence of xanthochromia and 8 patients had an abnormally high red blood cell count on the final CSF tube (range 9,750-600,000x106 cells/L). All 15 patients had an aneurysm on cerebral angiography. The combined definition of high subarachnoid hemorrhage risk, including the presence of xanthochromia in any CSF tube or a red blood cell count in final CSF tube ≥ 2,000x106 cells/L, had 100% sensitivity and 91.2% specificity for the diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage. The negative predictive value was 100% with a high positive likelihood ratio of 11.4 and negative likelihood ratio of 0.
The results of this study suggest that together, the absence of xanthochromia in any CSF tube and a red blood cell count of ≤ 2,000x106 cells/L in the final CSF tube may rule out a subarachnoid hemorrhage in patients presenting to the emergency department with an acute non-traumatic headache. This rule may distinguish a true subarachnoid hemorrhage from a traumatic lumbar tap and prevent the need for further patient assessment. However, these results are tempered by the fact that the prevalence of subarachnoid hemorrhage was very low in this population and the results of this study have not yet been validated in an independent population. Further studies are required to validate this rule before it can be trusted to help diagnose or rule out a subarachnoid hemorrhage in the emergency department.
For more information, see the Headache and Subarachnoid hemorrhage topics in DynaMed.
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DynaMed Careers
The DynaMed editorial team is seeking specialist editors in the following fields: Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Oncology (especially Breast cancer, Pancreatic cancer), Ophthalmology, and, Pediatric Neurology.
If interested, please send a recent copy of your CV to Rachel Brady at rbrady@ebsco.com.
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