Does This Patient With Chest Pain Have Acute Coronary Syndrome?

Does this patient have acute cholecystitis?

CONTEXT Although few patients with acute abdominal pain will prove to have cholecystitis, ruling in or ruling out acute cholecystitis consumes substantial diagnostic resources. OBJECTIVE To determine if aspects of the history and physical examination or basic laboratory testing clearly identify patients who require diagnostic imaging tests to rule in or rule out the diagnosis of acute cholecy...

Does This Adult Patient Have Acute Meningitis?

Does this patient have influenza?

CONTEXT Influenza vaccination lowers, but does not eliminate, the risk of influenza. Making a reliable, rapid clinical diagnosis is essential to appropriate patient management that may be especially important during shortages of antiviral agents caused by high demand. OBJECTIVES To systematically review the precision and accuracy of symptoms and signs of influenza. A secondary objective was t...

Does this patient have dementia?

CONTEXT While as many as 5 million individuals in the United States have dementia, many others have memory complaints. Brief tests to screen for cognitive impairment could help guide dementia diagnosis. OBJECTIVE To review the literature concerning the practicality and accuracy of brief cognitive screening instruments in primary care. DATA SOURCES A search of MEDLINE (including data from AI...

Does this patient have an acute thoracic aortic dissection?

CONTEXT The diagnosis of acute thoracic aortic dissection is difficult to make and often missed. OBJECTIVE To review the accuracy of clinical history taking, physical examination, and plain chest radiograph in the diagnosis of acute thoracic aortic dissection. DATA SOURCES A comprehensive review of the English-language literature was conducted using MEDLINE for the years 1966 through 2000. ...