scholarly journals Objectifying Acupuncture Effects by Lung Function and Numeric Rating Scale in Patients Undergoing Heart Surgery

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Maimer ◽  
Andrew Remppis ◽  
Falk-Udo Sack ◽  
Stefanie Ringes-Lichtenberg ◽  
Tobias Greten ◽  
...  

Rationale. Poststernotomy pain and impaired breathing are common clinical problems in early postoperative care following heart surgery. Insufficiently treated pain increases the risk of pulmonary complications. High-dose opioids are used for pain management, but they may cause side effects such as respiratory depression.Study Design. We performed a prospective, randomized, controlled, observer-blinded, three-armed clinical trial with 100 patients. Group 1 (n=33) and Group 2 (n=34) received one 20 min session of standardized acupuncture treatment with two different sets of acupoints. Group 3 (n=33) served as standard analgesia control without additional intervention. Results. Primary endpoint analysis revealed a statistically significant analgesic effect for both acupuncture treatments. Group 1 showed a mean percentile pain reduction (PPR) of 18% (SD 19,P<0.001). Group 2 yielded a mean PPR of 71% (SD 13,P<0.001). In Group 1, acupuncture resulted in a mean forced vital capacity (FVC) increase of 30 cm3(SD 73) without statistical significance (P=0.303). In Group 2, posttreatment FVC showed a significant increase of 306 cm3(SD 215,P<0.001).Conclusion. Acupuncture revealed specific analgesic effects after sternotomy. Objective measurement of poststernotomy pain via lung function test was possible.

2009 ◽  
Vol 67 (2b) ◽  
pp. 407-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Luiz dos Santos Werneck ◽  
Ana Lucia Rosso ◽  
Maurice Borges Vincent

OBJECTIVE: To test the ability of a 5HT2a/c (trazodone) antagonist, to improve depression and motor function in Parkinson' disease (PD). METHOD: Twenty PD patients with and without depression were randomly assigned to receive trazodone (group 1) or not (group 2). They were evaluated through UPDRS and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). RESULTS: For the UPDRS the mean score of group 2 was 33.1 ± 19.7 and 37.1 ± 18.0 at the end. For the group 1, the corresponding scores were 31.4 ± 11.3 and 25.9 ± 13.7. The variations in the Mann-Whitney test were 0.734 at the initial moment and 0.208 at the final moment. The variation in the comparison of the initial moment with the final moment was 0.005 providing statistical significance. For the HAM-D, the mean score went up 4 points in group 2, contrary to a 5.5 points decrease in group 1. CONCLUSION: Data analysis shows that this agent significantly improves depression, but the motor function improved only in the depressed patients. Because of the known anti-dopaminergic property of the 5-HT2c receptors, a possible approach for depression in PD could be the use of 5-HT2c antagonists, similarly to the use of atypical neuroleptics in case of psychotic symptoms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-36
Author(s):  
A Maimer ◽  
A Remppis ◽  
FU Sack ◽  
S Ringes-Lichtenberg ◽  
T Greten ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-50
Author(s):  
D. A. Iskra ◽  
V. V. Kovalchuk ◽  
E. R. Barantsevich

In our country, alpha-lipoic acid is widely used as a pathogenetic therapy for diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN).Objective: to compare the efficiency and safety of using oral and injectable α-lipoic acid for DPN.Patients and methods. The investigation enrolled 47 patients with a verified diagnosis of DPN, who were divided into two groups. Group 1 included 23 patients (10 men and 13 women; mean age, 62.9±7.5 years), Group 2 consisted of 24 patients (9 men and 15 women, mean age, 65.5±7.9 years). All the patients used Berlithione: Group 1 received its intravenous doses of 600 mg for 14 days, then oral ones of 600 mg for other 16 days; Group 2 took oral doses of 600 mg for 30 days. The therapy results were assessed using the digital rating scale (DRS), the Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4) neuropathic pain rating scale, and the neurological soft signs (NSS), and electroneuromyography (ENMG) data.Results and discussion. Berlithione was found to have a good tolerability. No adverse reactions were detected in any case; and there was no need to discontinue this drug. On day 21 of therapy, there were statistically significant differences in the indicators of pain intensity on DRS in Group 1 patients (p<0.05), some of them (n=8) had positive clinical changes as a reduction in the severity of hypesthesia. Both groups showed a tendency to improve ENMG parameters as a certain increase in excitation propagation velocity and M-response amplitude; however, these changes did not reach a statistical significance level. At the same time, in 6 out of the 8 patients in Group 1 with positive clinical changes, the described ENMG changes correlated with a reduction in the severity of hypesthesia. There were no significant changes on the NSS scale after 3 weeks of therapy. On day 30 of treatment, both groups were recorded to have statistically significant changes in pain intensity measures versus the baseline values, but no significant inter-group differences.Conclusion. Thus, Berlithione demonstrated its efficacy in both patient groups, but its positive effect occurred 1 week earlier in the step therapy group. It is noted that it is expedient to use this drug long (>1 month) for DPN.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Stanek

AbstractShort CommunicationsEXIT (ex-utero intrapartum treatment) procedure is a fetal survival-increasing modification of cesarean section. Previously we found an increase incidence of fetal vascular malperfusion (FVM) in placentas from EXIT procedures which indicates the underlying stasis of fetal blood flow in such cases. This retrospective analysis analyzes the impact of the recently introduced CD34 immunostain for the FVM diagnosis in placentas from EXIT procedures.Objectives and MethodsA total of 105 placentas from EXIT procedures (48 to airway, 43 to ECMO and 14 to resection) were studied. In 73 older cases, the placental histological diagnosis of segmental FVM was made on H&E stained placental sections only (segmental villous avascularity) (Group 1), while in 32 most recent cases, the CD34 component of a double E-cadherin/CD34 immunostain slides was also routinely used to detect the early FVM (endothelial fragmentation, villous hypovascularity) (Group 2). 23 clinical and 47 independent placental phenotypes were compared by χ2 or ANOVA, where appropriate.ResultsThere was no statistical significance between the groups in rates of segmental villous avascularity (29 vs. 34%), but performing CD34 immunostain resulted in adding and/or upgrading 12 more cases of segmental FVM in Group 2, thus increasing the sensitivity of placental examination for FVM by 37%. There were no other statistically significantly differences in clinical (except for congenital diaphragmatic hernias statistically significantly more common in Group 2, 34 vs 56%, p=0.03) and placental phenotypes, proving the otherwise comparability of the groups.ConclusionsThe use of CD34 immunostain increases the sensitivity of placental examination for FVM by 1/3, which may improve the neonatal management by revealing the increased likelihood of the potentially life-threatening neonatal complications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 700.1-700
Author(s):  
E. Trallero-Araguás ◽  
F. Romero ◽  
I. Castellví ◽  
V. Ortiz-Santamaria ◽  
S. Castañeda ◽  
...  

Background:Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies are a heterogenous group of systemic autoimmune diseases. Several phenotypes have been linked to specific autoantibodies. Clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis with rapidly progressive interstitial lung disease, the most severe form of ILD, is associated with the anti-MDA5 antibodies. However not all the patients with dermatomyositis and anti-MDA5 positive antibodies develop this severe condition.Objectives:We aim to define different phenotypes from a large cohort of patients diagnosed with dermatomyositis who were positive to anti-MDA5 antibodies.Methods:We retrospective analyzed the clinical and immunological data of 90 anti-MDA5 patients [50 female, 55.6%, mean (SD) age at diagnosis 47 (15.4) yrs.] with dermatomyositis recruited from a multicenter register in Spain (MEDRA5) including 30 hospitals. All the patients fulfill de International Myositis Classification Criteria (EULAR/ACR) for dermatomyositis (score >90%). Anti-MDA5 were detected by means of commercial immunoblot (EUROIMMUN©). The chi-square test was used to assess the relationships between qualitative variables. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compared medians between groups.Results:Sixty-six patients (73.3%) were diagnosed with clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis. Three different phenotypes linked with the anti-MDA5 antibody were identified. Group 1: patients with rapidly-ILD phenotype (28 patients, 31.1%), group 2: antisynthetase-like phenotype (23 patients, 25.5%), and group 3: non-ILD phenotype (39 patients, 43.3%). Clinical and immunological comparison between the groups disclosed that age at disease onset was higher (median, IQR) in patients from group 1 [53 (43-60)] vs. group 2 [46 (40-56)] or group 3 [42(41-51)] (p=0.01); disease onset was more frequent in spring in patients from group 1 (46.5%) than in the rest of the groups (21.7% and 28.9%) (p<0.01). Cancer was detected in 7 patients, only associated with myositis in 3 cases (3 years interval between cancer and dermatomyositis) without significant differences between phenotypes. Vasculitis (one case ANCA positive) was detected in 9 cases (6 limited to skin, 1 renal and 1 intestinal), 6 of them in the group 3 (statistical significance, in comparison with group 1 and 2, p<0.01). Mortality rate was higher in group 1 (51.9%, 16 out of 17 due to refractory respiratory failure) vs group 2 (12.5%) or 3 (0%) (p<0.001). Anti Ro52 positivity was more frequent in group 1 (65.4%) vs. group 2 (25%) or 3 (35.5%) (p<0.017), although it did not reach statistical significance in terms of mortality (p=0.173) or patients admitted in the intensive care unit (p=0.173). Mechanic hands were more frequent in group 2 (40.6%) than in groups 1 (25%) and 3 (34.4%) (p=0.05). Fever was significantly most frequent in group 1(52.6%) than in group 2 (21.1%) and 3 (26.3%) (p=0.001). Other clinical or immunological features such as arthritis, myositis, or the number of characteristic skin lesions among others were not more frequent in one group or another.Conclusion:Three different phenotypes of patients positive to anti-MDA5 were identified. The presence or not of ILD, or the different type (rapidly progressive or not) of ILD were the main feature that allow to differentiate these phenotypes, which are relevant in clinical practice.References:[1]Allenbach Y, Uzunhan Y, Toquet S, et al; French Myositis Network. Different phenotypes in dermatomyositis associated with anti-MDA5 antibody: Study of 121 cases. Neurology. 2020;95: e70-e78.Acknowledgements:List of contributors of MEDRA5 group: Aguilar-García J (Internal Medicine, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella), Carrión-Barberá I (Rheumatology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona), Cobo-Ibañez T (Rheumatology, Hospital Infanta Sofía, San Sebastián de los Reyes), de Escalante-Yangüela B (Internal Medicine, Hospital Clínico Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza), Fonseca-Aizpuru EM (Internal Medicine, Hospital de Cabueñes, Gijón), González-Cubillo L (Intensive Medicine, Hospital Universitario de Cruces, Barakaldo), González-Gay MA (Rheumatology, Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander), Prieto-González S (Internal Medicine, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona), Ruiz-Román A (Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla), Calero-Paniagua I (Internal Medicine, Hospital Virgen de la Luz, Cuenca), Callejas-Rubio JL (Internal Medicine, Hospital Clínico San Cecilio, Granada), Gil-Vila A (Internal Medicine, Hospital Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona), de Miguel-Campo B (Internal Medicine, Hospital Doce de Octubre, Madrid), García-Sevilla R (Pneumology, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante), Iriarte-Fuster A (Internal Medicine, Hospital de Bellvitge, Hospitalet de Llobregat), Jovani-Casano V (Rheumatology, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante), Lozano-Rivas N (Rheumatology, Hospital Virgen de la Arritxaca, Murcia), Martín-Gascón M (Internal Medicine, Hospital Morales Meseguer, Murcia), Martinez-González O (Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca), Monteagudo-Jiménez M (Internal Medicine, Hospital Parc Taulí, Sabadell), Mora-Ortega GM (Pneumology, Hospital Universitario Infanta Sofía, San Sebastián de los Reyes), Moral-Moral Pedro (Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitari i Politecnic La Fe, Valencia), Pérez-De Pedro I (Interna Medicine, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Málaga), Picazo-Talavera MR (Rheumatology, Hospital del Sureste, Madrid), Rubio-Rivas M (Internal Medicine, Hospital de Bellvitge, Hospitalet de Llobregat)Disclosure of Interests:None declared


1999 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 1354-1362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc De Kock ◽  
Philippe Gautier ◽  
Athanassia Pavlopoulou ◽  
Marc Jonniaux ◽  
Patricia Lavand'homme

Background The rationale of this study was to compare high-dose epidural clonidine with a more commonly used agent, such as bupivacaine. This was performed to give a more objective idea of the relative analgesic potency of epidural clonidine. Methods Sixty patients undergoing intestinal surgery during propofol anesthesia were studied. At induction, the patients received epidurally a dose of 10 micrograms/kg [corrected] clonidine in 7 ml saline followed by an infusion of 6 micrograms [corrected] x kg(-1) x h(-1) (7 ml/h) (group 1, n = 20), a dose of 7 ml bupivacaine, 0.5%, followed by 7 ml/h bupivacaine, 0.25% (group 2, n = 20), or a dose of 7 ml bupivacaine, 0.25%, followed by 7 ml/h bupivacaine, 0.125% (group 3, n = 20). Intraoperatively, increases in arterial blood pressure or heart rate not responding to propofol (0.5 mg/kg) were treated with intravenous alfentanil (0.05 mg/kg). Additional doses of propofol were given to maintain an adequate bispectral index. The epidural infusions were maintained for 12 h. In cases of subjective visual analogue pain scores up to 5 cm at rest or up to 8 cm during coughing, the patients were given access to a patient-controlled analgesia device. Results During anesthesia, patients in group 1 required less propofol than those in groups 2 and 3 (78 [36-142] mg vs. 229 [184-252] mg and 362 [295-458] mg; P &lt; 0.05) and less alfentanil than patients in group 3 (0 [0-0] mg vs. 11 [6-20] mg; P &lt; 0.05). Analgesia lasted 380 min (range, 180-645 min) in group 1 versus 30 min (range, 25-40 min) in group 2 and 22 min (range, 12.5-42 min) in group 3 (P &lt; 0.05). There was no suggestion of a hemodynamic difference among the three groups except for heart rates that were significantly reduced in patients in group 1. Sedation scores were significantly higher in this group during the first 2 h postoperatively. Conclusion Our results show that high doses of epidural clonidine potentiate general anesthetics and provide more efficient postoperative analgesia than the two bupivacaine dosage regimens investigated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 281-289
Author(s):  
Pranjal Phukan ◽  
Kalyan Sarma ◽  
Barun Kumar Sharma ◽  
Deb K. Boruah ◽  
Bidyut Bikash Gogoi ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an arthropod-borne flavivirus infection having high mortality and morbidity. This study was performed to evaluate the conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in JE and to find out any difference between pediatric and adult JE. Materials and Methods This retrospective study was performed on serologically positive 54 JE patients presented to a tertiary care hospital with acute encephalitic symptoms between April 2016 and October 2019. Relevant neurological examination, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, and MRI scan of the brain were performed. Results Fifty-four JE patients (n = 31 males and n = 23 females) having 32 pediatric and 22 adult JE were included in the study sample. Group 1 JE (n = 16) patients had encephalitic symptoms with duration less than 15 days up to the day of MRI scan and group 2 JE (n = 38) had symptoms more than 15 days. Group 1 JE had mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of 0.563 ± 0.109 (standard deviation [SD]) × 10–3 mm2/sec and group 2 JE had 1.095 ± 0.206 (SD) × 10–3 mm2/sec. The mean ADC value of pediatric JE was 0.907 ± 0.336 (SD) × 10–3 mm2/sec and adult JE was 0.982 ± 0.253 (SD) × 10–3 mm2/sec. Conclusion The majority of the JE patient shows abnormal signal alterations in bilateral thalami and substantia nigra. Diffusion-weighted imaging with ADC mapping helps in evaluating the stage of the JE. No statistical significance of the various conventional MRI findings was found between the pediatric JE and adult JE.


Author(s):  
Haytham M. Nasser ◽  
Ahmed Hussein ◽  
Gad M. Behairy ◽  
Mostafa Abdo

Abstract Background Varicocele is an abnormally dilated pampiniform plexus of the veins within the spermatic cord and is considered the most common correctable cause of male factor infertility. Many approaches are described for treatment either surgical (tradition inguinal, subinguinal, and laparoscopic) or non-surgical percutaneous embolization. During the period from August 2017 to December 2018, we prospectively analyzed the preoperative and post-operative alteration of semen parameters (at 3 and 9 months) of the data collected from 63 patients with clinically evident varicocele referred to our tertiary hospital. Patients were divided into two groups: group 1, thirty-three patients who underwent subinguinal microsurgical ligation, and group 2, thirty patients who underwent percutaneous embolization. Results Sixty-three patients enrolled in this study were divided in two groups: group 1, patients who underwent surgery, and group 2, patients who underwent embolization; the mean age is 24.6 ± 1.27 years in group 1 and 23.7 ± 2 years in group 2; there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups as regards BMI, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking. Bilaterality was present in 15.2% of group 1 patients and 10% in group 2 patients (P value 0.06). Most of the patients were classified as grades 2 and 3 with no statistical significance regarding severity of the disease. Preoperative semen parameters for patients including sperm count, motility, and abnormal forms showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Post-intervention semen analysis was done twice during follow-up after 3 months and 9 months from the date of intervention. After 3 months, the semen parameters were improved in both groups in spite of the higher sperm count in group 2 but with no statistical significance. After 9 months follow-up, semen analysis showed persistent increase in sperm mobility in group 1 patients in comparison to group 2 patients. Both groups had better improvement in count of normal form with no statistical significant change. Conclusion Improvement of semen parameters while treating primary varicocele by either subinguinal microsurgery approach or percutaneous embolization shows equivalent outcomes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (6) ◽  
pp. 662-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.S.S. Sandri ◽  
R. Rodriguez ◽  
M.M. Costa ◽  
S.M. Porto ◽  
D. Schwingel ◽  
...  

AbstractAbdominal angiostrongyliasis (AA) is caused by Angiostrongylus costaricensis, which inhabits mesenteric arteries. There is no drug treatment for AA, and since intestinal infarction due to thrombi is one of the main complications of the disease, the use of anticoagulants may be a treatment option. Thus, we aimed to assess the effect of high doses of enoxaparin on the prevention of ischaemic intestinal lesions and on the survival of mice infected with A. costaricensis. Twenty-four mice were infected with L3 of A. costaricensis and divided equally into two groups: Group 1, control treated with placebo, and Group 2, treated daily with enoxaparin (2.5 mg/kg) for 50 days. All mice were subjected to necropsy and histological analysis. The results from gross and microscopic assessments showed no variation in the prevalence of lesions between the groups. An analysis was also performed among survivors and non-survivors, showing that animals that died often presented lesions, such as granulation tissue in the serosa, and intestinal infarction and adhesion. The mortality rate did not vary between the enoxaparin-treated and control groups. Thus, we showed that high doses of enoxaparin have no protective effect against AA, as the survival rates and lesions of mice did not vary between the treated and control groups. Considering that the use of prophylactic doses was also shown to be ineffective in a previous study, we do not recommend the use of enoxaparin for AA treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Mohanty ◽  
C Trivedi ◽  
D G Della Rocca ◽  
C Gianni ◽  
B MacDonald ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction We investigated the ablation success of scar homogenization with combined (epicardial + endocardial) versus endocardial-only approach for ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) at 5 years of follow-up. Method Consecutive ICM patients undergoing VT ablation at our center were classified into group 1: endocardial scar homogenization and group 2: endocardial +epicardial scar homogenization. Patients with previous open heart surgery were excluded. All patients underwent bipolar substrate mapping with standard scar settings defined as normal tissue &gt;1.5 mV and severe scar &lt;0.5 mV. Non-inducibility of monomorphic VT was the procedural endpoint in both groups. Patients were followed up twice a year for 5 years with implantable device interrogations. Results A total of 361 (Group 1: 291 and group 2: 70) patients were included in the study (mean age: 67 years, male: 88.4%). At 5 years, significantly higher number of patients from group 2 remained arrhythmia-free (figure 1). Of those patients, 87 (45%) and 51 (89%) from group 1 and 2 respectively were off-anti-arrhythmic drugs (AAD) (p&lt;0.001). After adjusting for age, gender, hypertension, diabetes, and obstructive sleep apnea, scar homogenization using endo-epicardial approach was associated with 51% less recurrence compared to the endocardial ablation strategy (Hazard Ratio: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.27–0.89, p: 0.02). Conclusion In this series of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and VT, endo-epicardial scar homogenization was associated with a lower need for AAD and a significantly lower recurrence rate at 5-years of follow-up compared to the endocardial ablation alone. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None. Figure 1


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