Clin Exp Rheumatol
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To evaluate hypersomnolence in patients affected by fibromyalgia syndrome. ⋯ The occurrence of daytime hypersomnolence in FMS patients is linked to a greater severity of fibromyalgia symptoms and to more severe polysomnographic alterations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A double-blind, randomized, controlled study of amitriptyline, nortriptyline and placebo in patients with fibromyalgia. An analysis of outcome measures.
To study the efficacy and tolerability of amitriptyline and nortriptyline in a Brazilian population with fibromyalgia and to evaluate the instruments used to measure the efficacy of the treatment. ⋯ All three groups improved after treatment. Only the patient's subjective global assessment of improvement differed between the AM patients and the PL group (p < or = 0.03). In fibromyalgia, placebo groups are important in drug trials. Different measures of therapeutic effect are not better than the patient's self assessment.
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Editorial Review
Reconstructing the pyramid in rheumatoid arthritis. An urgent need.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Effects of long-term cyclic iloprost therapy in systemic sclerosis with Raynaud's phenomenon. A randomized, controlled study.
Iloprost is a stable prostacyclin analogue which has been shown to be effective in the short-term symptomatic treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) secondary to systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of long-term cyclic therapy with iloprost in comparison with nifedipine on the skin score, pulmonary function and Raynaud's severity score in patients with SSc and RP. ⋯ In SSc patients, cyclic intravenous iloprost infusion is able to control vasospastic disease. Our results suggest that it might also act as a disease-modifying agent, as it seems to improve the course of the disease. Further studies principally focused on organ involvement and the natural history of the disease are needed to confirm our results.
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Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disorder of childhood characterized by attacks of fever and serositis. Renal amyloidosis is the most important complication of the disease that determines the prognosis. ⋯ Amyloidosis is the most serious complication of FMF. Colchicine treatment ameliorates the progression of renal disease in the patients who presented with proteinuria and even with nephrotic syndrome. No correlation between the outcome of the patients with nephrotic syndrome and the degree of proteinuria and/or serum albumin levels at the initiation of treatment were noted. Progression to ESRF seems inevitable despite colchicine therapy after the development of CRI in patients with FMF associated amyloidosis.