Comparison

CorePendium vs LCAST

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

CorePendium

This app provides a comprehensive, continuously updated, and peer-reviewed clinical reference for Emergency and Urgent Care Medicine. It features integrated multimedia, offline access, intuitive navigation, and medical calculators, making it an essential tool for medical professionals on the go.

Highlights
  • Expert-backed, continuously revised content
  • Integrated media library (ECGs, X-rays, videos, audio)
  • Offline access to all content
  • Intuitive navigation with Rapid Access and Deep Dive sections
  • Integrated medical calculators
  • Links to EM:RAP knowledge base content
Features
Read full description

The textbook is dead. Long live CorePendium! CorePendium is the first truly comprehensive, continuously updated, peer-reviewed, multimedia clinical reference for Emergency and Urgent Care Medicine. Download the CorePendium App and bring the best clinical reference text with you anywhere in the world, regardless of connectivity. With your EM:RAP account, the CorePendium App allows you to join over 65,000 members of the CorePendium community. The CorePendium App gives you… • EXPERT-BACKED CONTENT — Written, edited, and peer-reviewed by a team of over 800 leading academics and practitioners, every CorePendium chapter is continuously revised by leading experts in emergency medicine and beyond. • INTEGRATED MEDIA — Comprehensive learning requires more than just words. Dive into our constantly growing media library of ECG’s and X-rays, as well as expertly-produced videos and audio segments. Look, listen, and learn, all without leaving the CorePendium App. • OFFLINE MODE — With new chapters being added and updated frequently to reflect the latest literature and practice guidelines, the CorePendium App makes sure you always have the newest information at your fingertips, 24 hours a day. The app looks for updates to its offline database every time you’re active online, so that you have the answers you need, no matter what. Do you want access to our skillfully-shot procedure videos and expert commentary away from a wireless connection? You can choose to download our audio and video content to ensure access when you need it most. • INTUITIVE NAVIGATION — Designed to prioritize all of the crucial information and media needed for the critical patient, CorePendium’s ‹Rapid Access› section gives you the quick insights you’ll need at the bedside. If you are looking for more background, the ‹Deep Dive› section provides all the information you’ll need to know about a topic. Sleek chapter sidebars, internal searches, search filters, and curated tabs ensure you can find what you need when you need it. • MEDICAL CALCULATORS — Get all of the commonly used clinical scoring and decision tools you need, with important interpretation data compiled by some of medicine’s foremost experts just a thumb slide away. Our calculators are also integrated with the content that uses it most. • PART OF THE EM:RAP KNOWLEDGE BASE — CorePendium is just one piece of the EM:RAP universe. The CorePendium App takes full advantage of its special connection to the most listened to programs in Emergency and Urgent Care Medicine by integrating that content. With continuously updated links to video, conference content, and podcasts you’ll always get the most cutting-edge answers. • INTERNATIONAL — CorePendium is for the whole world. We have an international advisory board that aims to address emergency care for patients and practitioners in all of the various environments where it is practiced. • EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE — CorePendium is written by clinicians for clinicians, without the support of advertising or industry. With the CorePendium App you just get the best information, current and expertly reviewed. • THE REFERENCE OF RECORD — Accessed millions of times, CorePendium is already the reference textbook used by residency training programs and frontline clinicians the world over.

About

LCAST

This medical tool aids healthcare professionals in assessing the plausibility of bruising in young children. It utilizes a validated clinical decision rule to help identify potential abuse by analyzing bruise characteristics and body locations. The app serves as a screening tool to inform decision-making and educate users on bruising patterns.

Highlights
  • Bruising clinical decision rule (TEN-4-FACESp)
  • Interactive 3D body model for inputting observations
  • Compares bruise findings to published evidence
  • Screening tool for children under 4.0 years
  • Educational tool for healthcare providers
  • Data based on multi-center NIH-funded study
Features
Read full description

The Lurie Children’s Child Injury Plausibility Assessment Support Tool (LCAST) is an app based on a validated Bruising Clinical Decision Rule (BCDR) called the TEN-4-FACESp. Use of this tool has the potential to improve recognition of abuse in young children with bruising. This app functions only as a screening tool and cannot be used to diagnose abuse. The app applies to children less than 4.0 years of age with bruising. If the child is older than 4.0 and/or bruising is not present, this tool cannot be used. In those circumstances, alternative methods of screening for abuse are needed. WHY FOCUS ON BRUISING? Bruising is the most common injury resulting from physical abuse and is the most overlooked or misdiagnosed antecedent injury prior to an abuse-related fatality or near-fatality in a young child. Bruising occurs from both accidental and abusive trauma, but differences identified by the TEN-4-FACESp bruising clinical decision rule may allow improved and earlier recognition of the abused child. ABOUT THE APP: The app is intended for clinical use by licensed healthcare professionals and providers. The app can inform decision-making and be used as an educational tool for learning about bruising characteristics that commonly result from abusive and accidental injury. The core feature of the app is an interactive 3D body model that allows the user to utilize visual cues of the human body to input clinical observations. The result is the opportunity to compare a child’s bruise findings to the published evidence resulting from a NIH-funded multi-center study. The data that drive the app are based on 2,161 patients of which 410 (19%) were classified by a multi-disciplinary panel of medical experts as abuse and 1,713 (79%) as accident. The TEN-4-FACESp bruising clinical decision rule resulted from analysis of 35 body regions and is 96% specific and 87% sensitive for distinguishing bruising from abuse versus accident. The TEN-4-FACESp has three components based on: 1) specific body regions with bruising, 2) patterned bruising, and 3) bruising anywhere on non-mobile infants. An affirmative finding for any one of the three TEN-4-FACESp components without a clear and reasonable explanation indicates a potential risk for abuse. The child may warrant further evaluation and consultation with an expert in child abuse should be considered. In addition to using the data in this app, the user should always check with a doctor before making any medical decisions.

Screenshots

CorePendium4 screens
LCAST3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: CorePendium at 67% against LCAST's 0%. CorePendium also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.3) and update cadence (monthly vs every 21 months). LCAST's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CorePendium holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CorePendium has 1.4K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of CorePendium's written reviews are positive against 0% of LCAST's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CorePendium ships an update monthly, LCAST every 21 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and August 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
CorePendium versus LCAST: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCorePendiumLCAST
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (1.4K ratings) — better4.3 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.4K — better8
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 21 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.19.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB146 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperEM:RAP, Inc.igNew, LLC dba Slingshot

Customer experience

CorePendium

All ratings1,435 ratings
Positive98.0%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative25.0%

LCAST

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

CorePendium

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes on launch
  • Compatibility issues with older devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • iPad version
  • Ability to track progress and bookmark content
  • Video playback controls (speed, rewind)

LCAST

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

CorePendium

No in-app purchases

None

LCAST

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is CorePendium free?
CorePendium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is LCAST free?
LCAST is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, CorePendium or LCAST?
CorePendium is rated higher. CorePendium averages 4.9 out of 5 from 1.4K ratings, while LCAST averages 4.3 from 8 ratings.
Do CorePendium or LCAST have ads?
Neither CorePendium nor LCAST shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CorePendium or LCAST?
CorePendium ships an update monthly, and LCAST every 21 months. Most recently, CorePendium was updated on September 23, 2026 and LCAST on August 17, 2026.

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