Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2006
Review Meta AnalysisTongxinluo (Tong xin luo or Tong-xin-luo) capsule for unstable angina pectoris.
Tongxinluo capsule is a medicine consisting of traditional Chinese herbs and insects used for cardiovascular diseases in China and some other Asian countries. To date the evidence of its effect has not previously been subject to systematic review, making it difficult to derive robust conclusions about its actual benefits, and indeed, possible harms. ⋯ Tongxinluo in combination with routine angina therapy appears to reduce the risk of subsequent AMI, PTCA or CABG, angina attacks and severity, as well as improving symptoms and ischaemic changes on the electrocardiogram (ECG). Due to the methodological limitations of the studies, the evidence is insufficient to make any conclusive recommendations about the use of this treatment for patients presenting with unstable angina. Large high quality randomised controlled trials are warranted.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2006
Review Meta AnalysisSystemic antimicrobial prophylaxis for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.
Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomies (PEG) maintain nutrition in the short or long term. A PEG is a feeding tube, placed surgically through the anterior abdominal wall, which delivers a liquid diet, or medication, via a clean or sterile delivery system. Those undergoing PEG placement are often vulnerable to infection because of age, compromised nutritional intake, immunosuppression and underlying disease processes such as malignancy and diabetes mellitus. The increasing incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) contributes both an additional risk to the placement procedure, and also to the debate surrounding antibiotic prophylaxis for PEG placement. The aim of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis is to establish a bactericidal concentration of an antimicrobial drug in the patients serum and tissues, via a brief course of an appropriate agent, by the time of PEG placement. ⋯ Administration of systemic prophylactic antibiotics for PEG placement reduces peristomal infection.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2006
Review Meta AnalysisAnabolic-androgenic steroids for alcoholic liver disease.
Alcohol is one of the most common causes of liver disease in the Western World. Randomised clinical trials have examined the effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids for alcoholic liver disease. ⋯ This systematic review could not demonstrate any significant beneficial effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids on any clinically important outcomes (mortality, liver-related mortality, liver complications, and histology) of patients with alcoholic liver disease.
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This review is one in a series of Cochrane reviews of interventions for shoulder pain in adults. ⋯ Available data from two placebo-controlled trials and one no-treatment controlled trial provides "Silver" level evidence (www.cochranemsk.org) that oral steroids provides significant short-term benefits in pain, range of movement of the shoulder and function in adhesive capsulitis but the effect may not be maintained beyond six weeks.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Oct 2006
Review Meta AnalysisAnticholinergic drugs versus placebo for overactive bladder syndrome in adults.
Around 16% of adults have symptoms of overactive bladder (urgency with frequency and/or urge incontinence). The prevalence increases with age. Anticholinergic drugs are commonly used to treat this condition. ⋯ The use of anticholinergic drugs by people with overactive bladder syndrome results in statistically significant improvements in symptoms. Recent trials suggest that this is associated with modest improvement in quality of life. Dry mouth is a common side effect of therapy but did not seem to have an effect on the numbers of withdrawals. It is not clear whether any benefits are sustained during long-term treatment or after treatment stops.