Does prevalence of negative chest radiography result in the emergency department patient with decompensated heart failure?
Approximately 1 of every 5 patients admitted from the ED with acute decompensated heart failure had no signs of congestion on chest radiography. Patients lacking signs of congestion on ED chest radiography were more likely to have an ED non-heart failure diagnosis than patients with signs of congestion. Clinicians should not rule out heart failure in patients with no radiographic signs of congestion.
This study shows that even lumbar degenerative kyphosis patients with spines that are sagittally well compensated by compensatory mechanisms may suffer from intractable back pain and that these patients can be treated effectively by the restoration of lumbar lordosis.