Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Puerarin, a form of herbal medicine, is widely used in the treatment of ischaemic stroke in China. ⋯ There is not enough evidence to evaluate the effect of puerarin on survival or dependency in people with ischaemic stroke. High quality and large-scale RCTs with long-term follow-up are needed to assess its efficacy.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2016
Review Meta AnalysisPerioperative dexmedetomidine for acute pain after abdominal surgery in adults.
Acute postoperative pain is still an issue in patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Postoperative pain and side effects of analgesic treatment, in particular those of opioids, need to be minimized. Opioid-sparing analgesics, possibly including dexmedetomidine, seem a promising avenue by which to improve postoperative outcomes. ⋯ Dexmedetomidine, when administered perioperatively for acute pain after abdominal surgery in adults, seemed to have some opioid-sparing effect together with in general no important differences in postoperative pain when compared with placebo. However the quality of the evidence was very low as the result of imprecision, methodological limitations and substantial heterogeneity among the seven included studies. The clinical importance for patients is uncertain, in as much as the influence of dexmedetomidine on patient-important outcomes such as gastrointestinal function, mobilization and adverse effects could not be satisfactorily determined. All included studies were relatively small, and publication bias could not be ruled out. Applicability of evidence was limited to middle-aged participants who were relatively free of co-morbidity and were undergoing elective abdominal surgery. A potential bias was a considerable quantity of unobtainable data from studies with mixed surgery. To detect and investigate patient-important outcomes, larger studies with longer periods of follow-up are needed.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2016
Review Meta AnalysisLidocaine for reducing propofol-induced pain on induction of anaesthesia in adults.
Pain on propofol injection is an untoward effect and this condition can reduce patient satisfaction. Intravenous lidocaine injection has been commonly used to attenuate pain on propofol injection. Although many studies have reported that lidocaine was effective in reducing the incidence and severity of pain, nevertheless, no systematic review focusing on lidocaine for preventing high-intensity pain has been published. ⋯ Overall, the quality of the evidence was high. Currently available data from RCTs are sufficient to confirm that both lidocaine admixture and pretreatment were effective in reducing pain on propofol injection. Furthermore, there were no significant differences of effect between the two techniques.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Feb 2016
Review Meta AnalysisRadioiodine therapy versus antithyroid medications for Graves' disease.
Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Both antithyroid medications and radioiodine are commonly used treatments but their frequency of use varies between regions and countries. Despite the commonness of the diagnosis, any possible differences between the two treatments with respect to long-term outcomes remain unknown. ⋯ The only antithyroid drug investigated in the two included trials was methimazole, which might limit the applicability of our findings with regard to other compounds such as propylthiouracil. Results from two RCTs suggest that radioiodine treatment is associated with an increased risk of Graves' ophthalmopathy. Our findings suggest some benefit from radioiodine treatment for recurrence of hyperthyroidism (relapse) but there is uncertainty about the magnitude of the effect size.
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The policy in a number of countries is to provide people with a terminal illness the choice of dying at home. This policy is supported by surveys indicating that the general public and people with a terminal illness would prefer to receive end-of-life care at home. This is the fourth update of the original review. ⋯ The evidence included in this review supports the use of home-based end-of-life care programmes for increasing the number of people who will die at home, although the numbers of people admitted to hospital while receiving end-of-life care should be monitored. Future research should systematically assess the impact of home-based end-of-life care on caregivers.