Revue médicale de Bruxelles
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Potentially inappropriate medications are a preventable cause of negative clinical and economic consequences in older people. A range of educational interventions and the implemention of clinical tools to sensitize physicians to inappropriate prescriptions appear to have positively impacted physicians' awareness and prescribing behaviour, which led to significant reductions in inappropriate drugs exposures and likely translated to significant population health benefits among their older patients. Although the level of evidence is not high, the general practitioner has a central position and its sensitization to inappropriate prescription allow to improve health of the olders.
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Therapeutic hypothermia is an essential step for the neurological protection of comatose individuals after cardiorespiratory arrest (CA) and ventricular fibrillation (VF). The evaluation of the application of the Protocol thereto within the C.H.U. Saint-Pierre (SPH) is the subject of this study. ⋯ The results of the protocol application are superior to those of several other studies. Few errors of inclusion and exclusion are present. The implementing of a common protocol for IC--Emergency Units--EMS to accelerate obtaining the target temperature and improve performance seems beneficial. The creation and implementation of a specific register with patients who had AC and were cooled seem interesting for a better medical follow-up, an assessment of the management and an enhancement of the current knowledge related to this technique.
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Continuous sedation is an acknowledged medical practice in the management of refractory symptoms at the end of life. Guidelines and recommendations have been proposed in palliative care. This paper presents the state-of-the-art (definitions, indications, technical aspects) on continuous sedation followed by an ethical reflection essentially based on the "double effect" principle, on the impact on life expectancy and the assimilation of continuous sedation as a "natural death". Distinction between continuous sedation and legal euthanasia is clarified.
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The objective of this paper is to review the literature published in 2011 in the field of intensive care and emergency related to oncology. Are discussed because of new original publications: prognosis, resuscitation techniques, oncologic emergencies, serious toxicities of cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapies, complicated aplastic anemia, toxicity of bisphosphonates, respiratory complications, pulmonary embolism and neurological complications.
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Diabetic muscle infarction is a rare and often unrecognized complication of diabetes. It typically occurs in patients with poorly controlled and multi-complicated diabetes. Typical clinical presentation is an indurate muscle pain, mainly localized in the lower limb with an acute onset. ⋯ Elevation of muscle enzymes (CPK) is present in half of cases. Management is conservative and the clinical and imaging evolution is usually favourable. We report the case of a patient presenting a subacute hyperalgesic lomboradiculopathy.