Background: The 2014 ACC/AHA Perioperative Guidelines suggest using the Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI), myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest (MICA), or American College of Surgeons (ACS)-NSQIP calculators for combined patient-surgical risk assessment. However, there is no published data comparing their performance. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records of 663 patients seen in our preop clinic who [...]

Background: Paracentesis is associated with decreased mortality in patients with advanced liver disease. The prevalence of paracentesis related complications is not well characterized, but prior studies suggest improved safety outcomes when ultrasound guidance is employed.  The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality utilizes patient safety indicator (PSI) 27 to identify postoperative bleeding complications. Our aim [...]

Case Presentation: A 56 year-old-female with past history of schizoaffective disorder on clozapine after failure of many antipsychotic medications for around 3 years got voluntarily hospitalized in a psychiatric facility for over 2 months and then presented to the acute care hospital with complains of fever, generalized fatigue and abdominal pain and admitted for SIRS [...]