Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Oct 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialThe efficacy of non-pharmacological methods of pain management in school-age children receiving venepuncture in a paediatric department: a randomized controlled trial of audiovisual distraction and routine psychological intervention.
Non-pharmacologic analgesia has been demonstrated to alleviate pain and distress in invasive procedures. Nevertheless, the practice has not been adopted widely in paediatric departments because nurses are often too busy to perform a time consuming procedure. ⋯ Audiovisual distraction was demonstrated to be effective in reducing self-reported pain, improving patient cooperation and increasing success rate in venepuncture procedures and was as successful as routine psychological intervention. It is highly recommended as an effective, labour saving and easy to administer analgesia and should be used to help prevent pain from venepuncture in school age children.
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Swiss medical weekly · Oct 2008
Clinical TrialSafety and feasibility of percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale without intra-procedural echocardiography in 825 patients.
Percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) is generally performed using intra-procedural guidance by transoesophageal (TEE) or intracardiac (ICE) echocardiography. While TEE requires sedation or general anaesthesia, ICE is costly and adds incremental risk, and both imaging modalities lengthen the procedure. ⋯ This study confirms the safety and feasibility of percutaneous PFO closure without intra-procedural echocardiographic guidance in a large cohort of consecutive patients.