Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Prolotherapy is an injection-based treatment for chronic low-back pain. Proponents of prolotherapy suggest that some back pain stems from weakened or damaged ligaments. Repeatedly injecting them with irritant solutions is believed to strengthen the ligaments and reduce pain and disability. Prolotherapy protocols usually include co-interventions to enhance the effectiveness of the injections. ⋯ There is conflicting evidence regarding the efficacy of prolotherapy injections in reducing pain and disability in patients with chronic low-back pain. Conclusions are confounded by clinical heterogeneity amongst studies and by the presence of co-interventions. There was no evidence that prolotherapy injections alone were more effective than control injections alone. However, in the presence of co-interventions, prolotherapy injections were more effective than control injections, more so when both injections and co-interventions were controlled concurrently.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2004
Review Meta AnalysisTypes of urethral catheters for management of short-term voiding problems in hospitalised adults.
Urinary tract infection is the most common hospital acquired infection. The major associated cause is indwelling urinary catheters. Currently there are many types of catheters available. A variety of specialised urethral catheters have been designed to reduce the risk of infection. These include antiseptic impregnated catheters and antibiotic impregnated catheters. Other issues that should be considered when choosing a catheter are ease of use, comfort and the cost. ⋯ The results suggest that the use of silver alloy indwelling catheters for catheterising hospitalised adults short-term reduces the risk of catheter acquired urinary tract infection. Further economic evaluation is required to confirm that the reduction of infection compensates for the increased cost of silver alloy catheters.Catheters coated with a combination of minocycline and rifampin may also be beneficial in reducing bacteriuria in hospitalised men catheterised less than one week but this requires further testing. There was not enough evidence to suggest whether or not any standard catheter was better than another in terms of reducing the risk of urinary tract infection in hospitalised adults catheterised short-term. Siliconised catheters may be less likely to cause urethral side effects in men: however, this result should be interpreted with some caution as the trials were small and the outcome definitions and specific catheters compared varied.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2004
Review Meta AnalysisPosterior versus lateral surgical approach for total hip arthroplasty in adults with osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip is a progressive condition that has no cure and often requires a total hip arthroplasty (THA). The principal methods for THA are the posterior and direct lateral approaches. The posterior approach is considered to be easy to perform, however, increased rates of dislocation have been reported. The direct lateral approach facilitates cup positioning which may decrease rates of hip dislocation and diminishes the risk of injury to the sciatic nerve. However, there is an increased risk of limp. Dislocation of a hip prosthesis is a clinically important complication after THA, in terms of morbidity implications and costs. ⋯ The quality and quantity of information extracted from the trials performed to date are insufficient to make any firm conclusion on the optimum choice of surgical approach in adult patients undergoing primary THA for OA.
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Injury is responsible for an increasing global burden of death and disability. As a result, new models of trauma care have been developed. Many of these, though initially developed in high-income countries, are now being adopted in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). One such trauma care model is advanced trauma life support (ATLS) training in hospitals, which is being promoted in LMICs as a strategy for improving outcomes for victims of trauma. However, the evidence of effectiveness for this health service intervention, in either HIC or LMIC settings, has not been rigorously tested using methodology such as a systematic review. ⋯ There is no clear evidence that ATLS training (or similar) impacts on the outcome for victims of trauma, although there is some evidence that educational initiatives improve knowledge of what to do in emergency situations. Further, there is no evidence that trauma management systems incorporating ATLS training impact positively on outcome. Future research should concentrate on the evaluation of trauma systems incorporating ATLS, both within hospitals and at the health system level, by using rigorous research designs.
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Induced hypothermia has been used in the treatment of head injury for many years. Encouraging results from small trials and laboratory studies led to renewed interest in the area and some larger trials. ⋯ There is no evidence that hypothermia is beneficial in the treatment of head injury. The earlier, encouraging, trial results have not been repeated in larger trials. The reasons for this are unclear. Hypothermia increases the risk of pneumonia and has other potentially harmful side-effects. Therefore, it would seem inappropriate to use this intervention outside of controlled trials in subgroups of patients for whom there is good reason to think the treatment would be beneficial.