Lancet
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Double-blind controlled trial of indomethacin as an adjunct to narcotic analgesia after major abdominal surgery.
A prospective randomised trial was undertaken to assess the efficacy of indomethacin as an analgesic after abdominal surgery. 44 patients received indomethacin suppositories (100 mg every 8 h for three days postoperatively) and 46 patients received placebo suppositories (every 8 h for the same period), in addition to intramuscular morphine (0.15 mg/kg every 4 h as required). Postoperative subjective pain assessments, analgesic requirements, and respiratory function were recorded. ⋯ The duration of postoperative morphine requirement was shorter for the indomethacin than for the placebo group. pCO2 on the first postoperative day was lower in the indomethacin group than the placebo group (4.82 +/- 0.08 vs 5.18 +/- 0.08 kPa). The administration of indomethacin in addition to morphine after major abdominal surgery provides better pain control than that provided by intramuscular morphine alone.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Error in blood-pressure measurement due to incorrect cuff size in obese patients.
Trained nurse-specialists obtained 84 000 blood-pressure measurements in 1240 obese subjects using cuffs of the three standard adult sizes in a randomised order. The differences in readings between the three cuffs were smallest in non-obese subjects and became progressively greater with increasing arm circumference (AC) in the obese population. ⋯ Formulae and a table have been derived to correct the measurement error caused by cuffs of inappropriate size at various ACs. The reported high prevalence of hypertension in obese subjects may be greatly overestimated.