Upsala journal of medical sciences
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common cause of death. Despite the heavy symptom burden in late stages, these patients are relatively seldom referred to specialist palliative care. ⋯ The survey indicates that the priorities and resources for palliative care in COPD are insufficient in Sweden. The data, despite limitations, reveal a lack of established team-work with specialized palliative care units and actual plans for such co-operation.
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To improve neurointensive care (NIC) and outcome for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients it is crucial to define and monitor indexes of the quality of patient care. With this purpose we established the web-based Uppsala TBI register in 2008. In this study we will describe and analyze the data collected during the first three years of this project. ⋯ The Uppsala TBI register enables the routine monitoring of NIC quality indexes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of ondansetron in preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting under different conditions of general anesthesia: a preliminary, randomized, controlled study.
Two hundred and forty patients were randomly allocated into six groups: Group I, anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane; Group II, anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane and 8 mg of ondansetron; Group III, anesthesia was maintained with propofol; Group IV, anesthesia was maintained with propofol and 8 mg of ondansetron; Group V, anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane and propofol; Group VI, anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane combined with propofol and 8 mg of ondansetron. ⋯ We conclude that compared with sevoflurane anesthesia alone, anesthesia with either propofol alone or propofol combined with sevoflurane resulted in a reduced incidence of vomiting and nausea during the first 24 h after surgery. Administration of ondansetron effectively reduced the incidence of vomiting but not that of nausea for all three types of general anesthesia.
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Shoulder external rotation braces used for patients with a first-time shoulder dislocation are designed with a variety of arm positions in abduction as well as external rotation. However, few studies have focused on their immobilizing performance, comfort, or user-friendliness. Especially, there have been no robust data of shoulder abduction-external rotation (A-ER) braces in comparison to those of external rotation (ER) braces. ⋯ Immobilization using the A-ER braces could maintain the arm position in abduction-external rotation with comparable user-friendliness, although they tended to be less comfortable during daily activities compared to the ER braces.
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Comparative Study
Whole-body MRI including diffusion-weighted imaging compared to CT for staging of malignant melanoma.
Whole-body (WB) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), has been increasingly used for the detection of metastatic disease. ⋯ WB MRI is still not ready to replace CT for staging of malignant melanoma, especially in the thorax region. However, WB MRI is advantageous for detection of bone lesions and lesions outside the investigated volume of the conventional CT. When WB MRI is evaluated, both DWI and conventional MRI sequences must be scrutinized.