Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Nov 2012
ReviewHyperbaric oxygen therapy for promoting fracture healing and treating fracture non-union.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) consists of intermittently administering 100% oxygen at pressures greater than one atmosphere absolute (ATA) in a pressure vessel. This technology has been used to treat a variety of diseases and has been described as helping patients who have delayed healing or established non-union of bony fractures. This is an update of a Cochrane Review first published in 2005, and previously updated in 2008. ⋯ This systematic review failed to locate any relevant clinical evidence to support or refute the effectiveness of HBOT for the management of delayed union or established non-union of bony fractures. Good quality clinical trials are needed to define the role, if any, of HBOT in the treatment of these injuries. There are three randomised controlled trials underway and we anticipate these will help provide some relevant clinical evidence to address this issue in the future.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Nov 2012
ReviewRole of chemotherapy additional to high-dose methotrexate for primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL).
Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a variant of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that accounts for about 2% to 5% of all primary intracranial tumours with immunocompetent patients. It appears at a median age of 62 years. A standard of care for PCNSL patients has not been defined yet, but high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is considered to be a beneficial chemotherapy in PCNSL treatment. Currently, HD-MTX is combined with numerous other chemotherapy drugs to improve outcomes of HD-MTX monotherapy. However, the impact of additional chemotherapy remains unclear, as there is evidence of a higher risk of adverse events (AEs) such as infective complications. ⋯ Owing to the small number of included trials and patients, the findings in this review remain uncertain. In summary, the presently available evidence (one small trial) showed a benefit in terms of PFS, ORR and CRR but no statistically significant difference regarding OS for patients with PCNSL treated with HD-MTX plus cytarabine compared to HD-MTX alone. However, the risk of severe infections and toxicity was significantly higher in patients treated with combined chemotherapy. More RCTs with additional chemotherapy to HD-MTX therapy with higher numbers of patients and longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm the results of this review and determine whether the PFS benefit will translate into an OS advantage. At least the one included study shows that RCTs of moderate quality and with valuable outcomes for this malignant disease are feasible.
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Flupenthixol, first made available in the UK in 1965, has been used as a treatment for schizophrenia for decades. ⋯ We were surprised that this well-established drug had so few data from trials investigating its absolute effects. We think this is unlikely to be rectified some 50 years after its launch and know that this would not happen today. However, even though data are very limited, flupenthixol may well be worthy of careful investigation - partly to ensure that this inexpensive active drug is not forgotten.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Nov 2012
Review Meta AnalysisPerioperative increase in global blood flow to explicit defined goals and outcomes following surgery.
Studies have suggested that increasing whole body blood flow and oxygen delivery around the time of surgery reduces mortality, morbidity and the expense of major operations. ⋯ It remains uncertain whether increasing blood flow using fluids, with or without inotropes or vasoactive drugs, reduces mortality in adults undergoing surgery. The primary analysis in this review (mortality at longest follow-up) showed no difference between the intervention and control, but this result was sensitive to the method of analysis, the withdrawal of studies with methodological limitations, and is dominated by a single large RCT. Overall, for every 100 patients in whom blood flow is increased perioperatively to defined goals, one can expect 13 in 100 patients (from 40/100 to 27/100) to avoid a complication, 2/100 to avoid renal impairment (from 8/100 to 6/100), 5/100 to avoid respiratory failure (from 10/100 to 5/100), and 4/100 to avoid postoperative wound infection (from 10/100 to 6/100). On average, patients receiving the intervention stay in hospital one day less. It is unlikely that the intervention causes harm. The balance of current evidence does not support widespread implementation of this approach to reduce mortality but does suggest that complications and duration of hospital stay are reduced.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Nov 2012
Review Meta AnalysisEmail for clinical communication between patients/caregivers and healthcare professionals.
Email is a popular and commonly-used method of communication, but its use in health care is not routine. Where email communication has been demonstrated in health care this has included its use for communication between patients/caregivers and healthcare professionals for clinical purposes, but the effects of using email in this way is not known.This review addresses the use of email for two-way clinical communication between patients/caregivers and healthcare professionals. ⋯ The evidence base was found to be limited with variable results and missing data, and therefore it was not possible to adequately assess the effect of email for clinical communication between patients/caregivers and healthcare professionals. Recommendations for clinical practice could not be made. Future research should ideally address the issue of missing data and methodological concerns by adhering to published reporting standards. The rapidly changing nature of technology should be taken into account when designing and conducting future studies and barriers to trial development and implementation should also be tackled. Potential outcomes of interest for future research include cost-effectiveness and health service resource use.