Current medical research and opinion
-
Multicenter Study Observational Study
Improvement in condition-specific and generic quality of life outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis following single-injection Synvisc: results from the LOBRAS study.
To evaluate the effectiveness of viscosupplementation with single-injection hylan G-F20 (Synvisc-One) in knee osteoarthritis (OA), during routine clinical care, in a 52 week observational study. ⋯ The effectiveness of single-injection hylan G-F20 in routine clinical care is supported by the detection of statistically significant, clinically important improvements in WOMAC Pain, Stiffness, Function, Total, and PGA outcomes, and statistically significant improvements in SF-36 PCS and WOMAC-derived HUI3 outcomes at multiple time points. Limitations of this study include lack of a control group or blinding. No predictive indicators of the response to treatment were identified. In general single-injection hylan G-F20 was well tolerated with very few patients experiencing any treatment-related adverse events. Collectively, these observations attest to the effectiveness of single-injection hylan G-F20 and complement previous observations in routine clinical care.
-
The Bowel Function Index (BFI) is a simple and sound bowel function and opioid-induced constipation (OIC) screening tool. We aimed to develop the translation and cultural adaptation of this measure (BFI-P) and to assess its reliability and validity for the Portuguese language and a chronic pain population. ⋯ This study had some limitations, namely, the criterion validity of BFI-P was not directly assessed; and the absence of a direct criterion for OIC precluded the assessment of the criterion based responsiveness of BFI-P. Nevertheless, BFI may importantly contribute to better OIC screening and its Portuguese version (BFI-P) has been shown to have excellent reliability, internal consistency, validity and responsiveness. Further suggestions regarding statistically and clinically important change cut-offs for this instrument are presented.
-
Modified docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (mDCF) therapy has been shown to be a well tolerated and highly effective regimen for metastatic gastric carcinoma. Herein we investigated the effectiveness of the mDCF combination as the first-line treatment in patients with recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). ⋯ The efficiency of the mDCF combination for induction chemotherapy has been well established previously. To our knowledge, this is one of the largest studies evaluating the survival and safety significance of mDCF chemotherapy as a first-line treatment in patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC.
-
The objective of this study was to estimate resource utilization and expenditures for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a real-world claims database. ⋯ Although this claims-based analysis is limited by a lack of generalizability to noninsured populations and potential underreporting of certain events and diagnoses, we found that treating AML patients poses a significant healthcare burden, during both first-line induction and relapse. With people living longer, the number of cases of AML is expected to increase in the future.
-
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of once weekly albiglutide added to a single oral antidiabetic drug (OAD) in Japanese patients with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). ⋯ When combined with a single OAD in Japanese patients with inadequately controlled T2DM, albiglutide led to favorable changes in all glycemic parameters, with minor changes in body weight depending on the background OAD. No new safety concerns were noted.