Can J Neurol Sci
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Infection rates in standard vs. hydrogel coated ventricular catheters.
Infection related to external ventricular drain (EVD) use is a common neurosurgical complication. Modified catheters with a hydrophilic surface may impede bacterial adherence and thereby reduce catheter related cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) infection. ⋯ Infection remains a common hazard in the use of EVD, and we found no reduction of infection using the hydrogel-coated catheters when presoaked in low concentration bacitracin solution.
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Multicenter Study
The Consortium to Investigate Vascular Impairment of Cognition: methods and first findings.
The Consortium to Investigate Vascular Impairment of Cognition (CIVIC) is a Canadian, multi-centre, clinic-based prospective cohort study of patients with Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI). We report its organization and the impact of diagnostic criteria on the study of VCI. ⋯ Consensus-based criteria for VaD omit patients who do not meet dementia criteria that are modeled on Alzheimer's disease. Even for patients who do, the proportion identified with VaD varies widely. Criteria based on empirical analyses need to be developed and validated.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A comparison of the efficacy and tolerability of controlled-release carbamazepine with conventional carbamazepine.
We compared the efficacy and tolerability of controlled-release carbamazepine (CBZ-CR) with conventional carbamazepine (CBZ) in 131 epileptic patients (both men and women, ages 6-65 years) in an open, multicentre, cross-over trial. Patients entered into the trial were previously on CBZ monotherapy or polytherapy. ⋯ In 44/131 (34%) of patients, the switch to CBZ-CR was accompanied by an improvement in tolerability, primarily due to a reduction in peak-dependent CNS side-effects such as tiredness, double or blurred vision, dizziness and ataxia. At the end of the study, investigators preferred CBZ-CR for 76% of their patients and 70% of the patients preferred CBZ-CR.