I caught up with Dr. Anand Swaminathan, otherwise known as EM Swami, at The Teaching Course in NYC where he told his Best Case Ever from Janus General of his heroic and collaborative attempts at saving the life of a gentleman who presented to the ED with a classic story for a ruptured AAA. How would you manage a patient with a ruptured AAA who arrests right in front of you in theED? CPR? No way. There are no ACLS algorithms that will help you with this one. Swami thinks outside the box, takes action and accepts the consequences. As William Olser famously said, “There is no disease more conducive to clinical humility than aneurysm of the aorta.”
Published Jan, 2016 by Anton Helman
Other FOAMed Resources for Ruptured AAA
Fantastic Ruptured AAA simulation case on EMsimcases
Great review of Ruptured AAA diagnosis and management on EMdocs
Thanks for the great case! Just looking for some clarification on what (sorry if this is misspelt) Roboa is? Mentioned at 4:18.
REBOA is resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta.
Here is a great review article (full pdf)
http://emcrit.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/00005373-201112000-00062.pdf