FOAMcast - Emergency Medicine Core Conten‪t‬ FOAMcast

We have previously covered epistaxis on FOAMcast , including the use of tranexamic acid (TXA). Now, we cover a new, large RCT, the NoPac trial by Reuben et al, on TXA for epistaxis.
Show notes: FOAMcast.org
Thanks for listening!
Lauren Westafer and Jeremy Faust

There's been a lot of excitement over various drugs for COVID-19, including anti-inflammatory drugs. Colchicine, a medication long used for gout, fits that bill. In this podcast, we review 3 trials of colchicine including COLCORONA, GRECCO-19, and a study by Lopes et al. 
Show notes: FOAMcast.org
Thanks for listening!
Jeremy Faust and Lauren Westafer

Early studies of tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody that binds interleukin-6 , were disappointing. However, the REMAP-CAP trial recently reported a benefit to tocilizumab in non-critically ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Now, from the RECOVERY trial (the trial that brought us dexamethasone), we have more good news for tocilizumab - which we cover in this podcast
Show notes: FOAMcast.org
Thanks for listening!
Lauren Westafer and Jeremy Faust

As vaccinations role out, the news of SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations to the spike protein have dominated news cycles. One unanswered question has been - do the current vaccines protect against these variants?
We tackle this issue and look at a new paper [pre-print] by Wu et al. 

Prior randomized trials of convalescent plasma in COVID-19 have had disappointing results. However, these trials included patients with severe illness who were many days (if not weeks) into the course of their illness. To date, it was hypothesized, but unknown, that the benefit would be in patients very early in the course of their illness. We cover an RCT by Libster et al in NEJM on convalescent plasma in older patients with mild COVID-19.
Show notes/references: FOAMcast.org

Thanks for listening!
Lauren Westafer and Jeremy Faust

In this quick literature update we review the new recommendations from the CDC for the treatment of gonococcal infections which include:

Higher dose ceftriaxone (500 mg IM) or 1 gm IM if ≥150 kg patient
No routine azithromycin
Preference for doxycycline for co-treatment of presumed chlamydial infection