Health technology assessment : HTA
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2012
ReviewManagement of frozen shoulder: a systematic review and cost-effectiveness analysis.
Frozen shoulder is condition in which movement of the shoulder becomes restricted. It can be described as either primary (idiopathic) whereby the aetiology is unknown, or secondary, when it can be attributed to another cause. It is commonly a self-limiting condition, of approximately 1 to 3 years' duration, though incomplete resolution can occur. ⋯ There was limited clinical evidence on the effectiveness of treatments for primary frozen shoulder. The economic evidence was so limited that no conclusions can be made about the cost-effectiveness of the different treatments. High-quality primary research is required.
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyThe use of MElatonin in children with neurodevelopmental disorders and impaired sleep: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel study (MENDS).
Difficulties in initiating and maintaining sleep are common in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Melatonin is unlicensed in children yet widely prescribed for sleep problems. ⋯ On average, the children treated with melatonin slept 23 minutes longer than those in the placebo group; however, the upper limit of the confidence interval was less than 1 hour, the minimum clinically worthwhile difference specified at the outset of the trial. Melatonin is effective in reducing SOL in children with neurodevelopmental delay by a mean of 45 minutes; a value of 30 minutes was specified a priori to be clinically important. Future studies should be conducted over longer periods and directly compare different formulations of melatonin with conventional hypnotic and sedative medications. It would also be important to study groups of children with specific neurological disorders.
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2012
ReviewThe effectiveness of interventions to treat severe acute malnutrition in young children: a systematic review.
Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) arises as a consequence of a sudden period of food shortage and is associated with loss of a person's body fat and wasting of their skeletal muscle. Many of those affected are already undernourished and are often susceptible to disease. Infants and young children are the most vulnerable as they require extra nutrition for growth and development, have comparatively limited energy reserves and depend on others. Undernutrition can have drastic and wide-ranging consequences for the child's development and survival in the short and long term. Despite efforts made to treat SAM through different interventions and programmes, it continues to cause unacceptably high levels of mortality and morbidity. Uncertainty remains as to the most effective methods to treat severe acute malnutrition in young children. ⋯ For many of the most highly ranked questions evidence was lacking or inconclusive. More research is needed on a range of topic areas concerning the treatment of infants and children with SAM. Further research is required on most aspects of the management of SAM in children < 5 years, including intravenous resuscitation regimens for shock, management of subgroups (e.g. infants < 6 months old, infants and children with SAM who are human immunodeficiency virus sero-positive) and on the use of antibiotics.
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2012
ReviewRituximab for the first-line treatment of stage III-IV follicular lymphoma (review of Technology Appraisal No. 110): a systematic review and economic evaluation.
Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which typically presents when the disease is at an advanced stage. The majority of patients receive first-line therapy of rituximab in combination with chemotherapy, with two-thirds receiving cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of other chemotherapies in combination with rituximab in first-line therapy is not known. ⋯ The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.
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Health Technol Assess · Jan 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyCRASH-2 (Clinical Randomisation of an Antifibrinolytic in Significant Haemorrhage) intracranial bleeding study: the effect of tranexamic acid in traumatic brain injury--a nested randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been shown to reduce blood loss in surgical patients and the risk of death in patients with traumatic bleeding, with no apparent increase in vascular occlusive events. These findings raise the possibility that it might also be effective in traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ This was the first randomised controlled study to evaluate the effect of TXA in TBI patients and it found that neither moderate benefits nor moderate harmful effects can be excluded. However, although uncertainty remains, our analyses suggest that TXA administration might improve outcome in TBI patients and provide grounds for evaluating this hypothesis in future research.