American journal of therapeutics
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Many patients with chronic pain have less than optimal therapeutic outcomes after prolonged treatment with opiate analgesics. Worsening of pain perception, functional capacity, and mood often result. Medical detoxification is often undertaken in this situation. ⋯ Patient and family satisfaction was robust. Only 6 patients discontinued therapy secondary to side effects and/or exacerbation of pain. In this open-label study, SL buprenorphine and buprenorphine/naloxone were well tolerated and safe and appeared to be effective in the treatment of chronic pain patients refractory to LTOA.
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Chronic pain is among the most common conditions to initiate medical care; 40% of patients victimized by chronic pain are not under the supervision of a physician, and about 70% of patients with severe pain are receiving pain medical care. About dollar 100 billion is an annual estimated cost representing loss of productivity, increased medical costs, and income loss. Major depressive disorder is not infrequently encountered in daily clinical practice often presenting with somatic complaints that include varieties of pain, and these may be so prominent as to direct the treatment to the somatic complaint evaluation to the exclusion of underlying psychopathology. ⋯ A more rapid achievement by venlafaxine of remission and a high-quality pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile lead to patient compliance and facilitate both fewer relapses and recurrences. Duloxetine is broadly discussed, revealing pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, adverse/side effects, cautions with requisite patient-specific selection, and laboratory monitoring. The management of somatic pain complaints of physical and psychiatric origin is discussed.
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Comparative Study
Local treatment pattern versus trial-based data: a cost-effectiveness analysis of drotrecogin alfa (activated) in the treatment of severe sepsis in Sweden.
Three methodological approaches were applied to analyze whether the cost-effectiveness of drotrecogin alfa (activated) (Xigris) as an adjunct to standard care compared with standard care alone is a cost-effective alternative for the treatment of Swedish patients with severe sepsis and organ dysfunction. Health-economic model simulations were applied to (1) Swedish treatment pattern data, (2) international trial data and local unit prices, and (3) Swedish local patient data combined with trial age structure to adjust for differences in the age structure between the trial and the Swedish patient sample. ⋯ However, the cost-effectiveness ratios were sensitive to the approach applied. The results indicate the importance of collecting not only information on local prices but also information about treatment pattern and patient characteristics when conducting country-specific health-economic model applications.