Atypical cervical spondylotic radiculopathy resulting in a hypertensive emergency during cervical extension: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND Extensive research revealed the absence of reports documenting hypertensive emergencies precipitated by changes in the cervical spine posture.CASE SUMMARY We here present a 57-year-old woman diagnosed as having cervical spondylotic radiculopathy(CSR)who was scheduled for anterior cervical decompression and fusion.During post-anesthetic positioning,a sudden hypertensive surge was observed when the patient was in a supine position with the neck being slightly extended.This surge was promptly reversed through cervical flexion and head elevation.This event however required an alternate surgical approach for recovery—posterior laminoplasty and endoscopy-assisted nucleus pulposus removal.Following the 6-month outpatient follow-up period,cervical flexion and extension activities substantially improved in the patient without any episodes of increase in acute blood pressure.CONCLUSION Maintaining a safe hypotensive posture and performing rapid,thorough deco-mpression surgery may serve as effective interventions for patients presenting symptoms similar to those of CSR accompanied by hypertensive emergencies(HE).This would mitigate the underlying causes of these HEs.

Patient care during interfacility transport:a narrative review of managing diverse disease states

BACKGROUND:When critically ill patients require specialized treatment that exceeds the capability of the index hospitals,patients are frequently transferred to a tertiary or quaternary hospital for a higher level of care.Therefore,appropriate and efficient care for patients during the process of transport between two hospitals(interfacility transfer)is an essential part of patient care.While medical adverse events may occur during the interfacility transfer process,there have not been evidence-based guidelines regarding the equipment or the practice for patient care during transport.METHODS:We conducted searches from the PubMed,Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health(CINAHL),and Scopus databases up to June 2022.Two reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts for eligibility.Studies that were not in the English language and did not involve critically ill patients were excluded.RESULTS:The search identified 75 articles,and we included 48 studies for our narrative review.Most studies were observational studies.CONCLUSION:The review provided the current evidence-based management of diverse disease states during the interfacility transfer process,such as proning positioning for respiratory failure,extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO),obstetric emergencies,and hypertensive emergencies(aortic dissection and spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage).