Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2005
Review Meta AnalysisTraditional suburethral sling operations for urinary incontinence in women.
Traditional suburethral slings are surgical operations used to treat women with symptoms of stress urinary incontinence. ⋯ The data on sub urethral sling operations remain too few to address the effects of this type of surgical treatment. Few trials are reported by authors in a complete fashion and most information came from abstracts presented in annual meetings. The broader effects of suburethral slings could not be established since trials did not include appropriate outcome measures such as general health status, health economics, pad testing, third party analysis and time to return to normal activity level. Data obtained from thirteen trials did not provide reliable estimates because of their sizes, and heterogeneity of designs, populations studied, and types of comparisons made. Reliable evidence on which to judge whether or not suburethral slings are better or worse than other surgical or conservative management is currently not available.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2005
Review Meta AnalysisRubber band ligation versus excisional haemorrhoidectomy for haemorrhoids.
Traditional treatment methods for haemorrhoids fall into two broad groups: less invasive techniques including rubber band ligation (RBL), which tend to produce minimal pain, and the more radical techniques like excisional haemorrhoidectomy (EH), which are inherently more painful. For decades, innovations in the field of haemorrhoidal treatment have centred on modifying the traditional methods to achieve a minimally invasive, less painful procedure and yet with a more sustainable result. The availability of newer techniques has reopened debate on the roles of traditional treatment options for haemorrhoids. ⋯ The present systematic review confirms the long-term efficacy of EH, at least for grade III haemorrhoids, compared to the less invasive technique of RBL but at the expense of increased pain, higher complications and more time off work. However, despite these disadvantages of EH, patient satisfaction and patient's acceptance of the treatment modalities seems to be similar following both the techniques implying patient's preference for complete long-term cure of symptoms and possibly less concern for minor complications. So, RBL can be adopted as the choice of treatment for grade II haemorrhoids with similar results but with out the side effects of EH while reserving EH for grade III haemorrhoids or recurrence after RBL. More robust study is required to make definitive conclusions.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2005
Review Meta AnalysisWhich anticholinergic drug for overactive bladder symptoms in adults.
Around 16% to 45% of adults have overactive bladder symptoms (urgency with frequency and/or urge incontinence - 'overactive bladder syndrome'). Anticholinergic drugs are common treatments. ⋯ Where the prescribing choice is between oral immediate release oxybutynin or tolterodine, tolterodine might be preferred for reduced risk of dry mouth. With tolterodine, 2 mg twice daily is the usual starting dose, but a 1 mg twice daily dose might be equally effective with less risk of dry mouth. If extended release preparations of oxybutynin or tolterodine are available, these might be preferred to immediate release preparations because there is less risk of dry mouth. There is little or no evidence available about quality of life, costs, or long-term outcome in these studies. There were insufficient data from trials of other anticholinergic drugs to draw any conclusions.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2005
Review Meta AnalysisInterventions to improve outpatient referrals from primary care to secondary care.
The primary care specialist interface is a key organisational feature of many health care systems. Patients are referred to specialist care when investigation or therapeutic options are exhausted in primary care and more specialised care is needed. Referral has considerable implications for patients, the health care system and health care costs. There is considerable evidence that the referral processes can be improved. ⋯ There are a limited number of rigorous evaluations to base policy on. Active local educational interventions involving secondary care specialists and structured referral sheets are the only interventions shown to impact on referral rates based on current evidence. The effects of 'in-house' second opinion and other intermediate primary care based alternatives to outpatient referral appear promising.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jul 2005
ReviewSpeech and language therapy for dysarthria due to non-progressive brain damage.
Dysarthria is a common sequel of non-progressive brain damage (typically stroke and traumatic brain damage). Impairment-based therapy and a wide variety of compensatory management strategies are undertaken by speech and language therapists with this patient population. ⋯ There is no evidence of the quality required by this review to support or refute the effectiveness of speech and language therapy interventions for dysarthria following non-progressive brain damage. Despite the recent commencement of a RCT of optimised speech and language therapy for communication difficulties after stroke, there continues to be an urgent need for good quality research in this area.