Ugeskrift for laeger
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Within the past decades, epidural steroid injections have been used in the treatment of severe low back pain and sciatica. In reviewing papers for this article an effort is made to concentrate on those that meet commonly accepted research design criteria, such as being blinded, randomized and prospective. The risks and the advantages of the procedure are discussed. ⋯ Risks of more serious complications are low using the right technique. However, the results are to some extent conflicting. Future correctly designed studies are necessary to clarify whether the injection should be a supplement to the established treatment of low back pain and sciatica.
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Certain genotypes of apolipoprotein E (apoE, locus APOE) are associated with an increased risk for development of Alzheimer's disease. We present the distribution of the APOE alleles (E2, E3 and E4) in 50 Danish patients referred to a dementia clinic. ⋯ The study demonstrates a strong association between Alzheimer's disease and the E4 allele. No difference was found in the frequency of the E4 allele between Alzheimer and non-Alzheimer demented patients.
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Ugeskrift for laeger · Aug 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial[Leukocyte filtration in elective colorectal surgery. Reduced transfusion associated immunosuppression after bedside procedures].
The objective of the study was to investigate certain immune parameters in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery and receiving either whole blood transfusion or leucocyte-filtrated blood. Sixty consecutive patients were randomly allocated to receive either whole blood transfusion or leucocyte-filtrated blood leucocyte when transfusion was indicated. ⋯ Furthermore transfusion with whole blood was accompanied by a significant increase in postoperative infectious complications (p < 0.01). Patients transfused with leucocyte-filtrated blood had only minor and passing changes in the immune parameters and developed no infectious complications, indicating that effective leucocyte filtration abolishes transfusion-associated immunosuppression.