Therapeutics and clinical risk management
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Massive hemorrhage remains a major cause of potentially preventable deaths. Better control of bleeding could improve survival rates by 10%-20%. Transfusion intervention concepts have been formulated in order to minimize acute traumatic coagulopathy. These interventions still have not been standardized and vary among medical centers. ⋯ This best-evidence topic report brings comprehensive information about massive hemorrhage management.
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Ther Clin Risk Manag · Jan 2015
ReviewUpdate on the management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting - focus on palonosetron.
Nausea and vomiting are major adverse effects of chemotherapy and can greatly impact patients' quality of life. Although chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) prevalence is high, treatment remains difficult. Palonosetron is a 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor antagonist (5-HT3RA) approved for treatment of CINV. The purpose of this review is to discuss existing and emerging therapeutic options, and examine studies focusing on palonosetron with regards to efficacy, pharmacology, tolerability, safety, and patient-derived outcomes. ⋯ Palonosetron, alone or with other antiemetics, has improved CINV treatment due to its ability to significantly reduce delayed phases of CINV, compared to similar 5-HT3RAs. Palonosetron is both more effective than first generation 5-HT3RAs and safer, as it results in a smaller prolongation of the QTc interval, compared to other 5-HT3RAs.
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Ther Clin Risk Manag · Jan 2015
ReviewPharmacologic rationale underlying the therapeutic effects of tiotropium/olodaterol in COPD.
Bronchodilators are the most important drugs used for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In particular, these therapeutic agents are mostly long-acting compounds utilized via inhalation, and include LAMA (long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonists) and LABA (long-acting β2-adrenoceptor agonists). Because LAMA and LABA induce bronchodilation by distinct mechanisms of action, LABA/LAMA combinations provide a reciprocal potentiation of the pharmacological effects caused by each component. ⋯ Many different LAMA/LABA combinations have been recently developed and evaluated in randomized clinical trials. In this context, our review focuses on the pharmacological mechanisms underpinning the bronchodilation elicited by the LAMA tiotropium bromide and the LABA olodaterol. We also discuss the results of the most important clinical studies carried out in COPD patients to assess the efficacy and safety of tiotropium/olodaterol combinations.
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Ther Clin Risk Manag · Jan 2015
ReviewPulmonary hypertension: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a hemodynamic and pathophysiologic state that can be found in multiple conditions with associated symptoms of dyspnea, decreased exercise tolerance, and progression to right heart failure. The World Health Organization has classified PH into five groups. The first group is pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which can be idiopathic, heritable, due to drugs and toxins, or associated with conditions such as connective tissue diseases, congenital heart disease, portal hypertension, and others. ⋯ The most challenging PH diagnosis is in a case that does not fit one group of PH, but meets criteria that overlap between several groups. This also makes the treatment challenging because each group of PH is managed differently. This review provides an overview of the five groups of PH and discusses the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges of each.
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Infants admitted to health-care centers with acute bronchiolitis are frequently monitored with a pulse oximeter, a noninvasive method commonly used for measuring oxygen saturation. The decision to hospitalize children with bronchiolitis has been largely influenced by pulse oximetry, despite its questionable diagnostic value in delineating the severity of the illness. Many health-care providers lack the appropriate clinical fundamentals and limitations of pulse oximetry. ⋯ The aim of this paper is to provide the current evidence on the role of pulse oximetry in bronchiolitis. We discuss the history, fundamentals of operation, and limitations of the apparatus. A search of the Google Scholar, Embase, Medline, and PubMed databases was carried out for published articles covering the use of pulse oximetry in bronchiolitis.