Clinical therapeutics
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Clinical therapeutics · Jul 2004
Case ReportsNeuroleptic malignant syndrome associated with ziprasidone in an adolescent.
Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a rare but potentially fatal disorder characterized by fever, muscular rigidity, delirium, and autonomic instability. Although the classic presentation of NMS has been most commonly associated with the typical neuroleptic medications, sporadic cases in association with atypical neuroleptic medications have been reported. ⋯ We present this case to alert physicians of the possibility of NMS in adolescent patients treated with ziprasidone.
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Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain syndrome caused by drug-, disease-, or injury-induced damage or destruction of sensory neurons within the dorsal root ganglia of the peripheral nervous system. Characteristic clinical symptoms include the feeling of pins and needles; burning, shooting, and/or stabbing pain with or without throbbing; and numbness. Neuronal hyperexcitability represents the hallmark cellular mechanism involved in the underlying pathophysiology of neuropathic pain. Although the primary goal is to alleviate pain, clinicians recognize that even the most appropriate treatment strategy may be, at best, only able to reduce pain to a more tolerable level. ⋯ Neuropathic pain continues to be one of the most difficult pain conditions to treat. With the proposed algorithm, clinicians will have a framework from which to design a pain treatment protocol appropriate for each patient. The algorithm will also help streamline referrals to specialized pain clinics, thereby reducing waiting list times for patients who are truly refractory to traditional pharmacotherapy.
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Clinical therapeutics · Jul 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialComparison of cizolirtine citrate and metamizol sodium in the treatment of adult acute renal colic: a randomized, double-blind, clinical pilot study.
Renal colic causes excruciating pain that provides a good clinical model of acute pain for the development of new analgesics. ⋯ Although this limited pilot study did not include an internal measure of sensitivity, relevant pain reduction was shown in the population of patients with suspected renal colic undergoing treatment with cizolirtine, suggesting the presence of analgesic activity. However, the efficacy of cizolirtine was found to be similar to that of metamizol. Treatments were well tolerated.
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Clinical therapeutics · Jul 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialOnset of analgesia and analgesic efficacy of tramadol/acetaminophen and codeine/acetaminophen/ibuprofen in acute postoperative pain: a single-center, single-dose, randomized, active-controlled, parallel-group study in a dental surgery pain model.
The combination of tramadol and acetaminophen has demonstrated good efficacy in various clinical pain models. However, there is a need for comparisons of the onset of analgesia and other measures of analgesic efficacy with this combination and other strong combination analgesics for the management of acute pain. ⋯ In this small and selected group of subjects, the onset of analgesia and analgesic efficacy of Tr/Ac was comparable to that of Co/Ac/Ib. Tr/Ac provided rapid and effective analgesia for acute postoperative dental pain in this population.
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Clinical therapeutics · Jul 2004
Management patterns and outcomes of patients with venous thromboembolism in the usual community practice setting.
The objectives of this study were to observe a commercially insured sample diagnosed with a venous thromboembolism (VTE) event and treated postevent with warfarin and to detail the thromboembolic and bleeding outcomes in the time periods during warfarin therapy and after discontinuation of such therapy. ⋯ Negative outcomes associated with warfarin therapy-recurrent VTE events and bleeding requiring hospitalization-were experienced by 10.7% and 5.8% of patients, respectively. These data suggest that negative outcomes may be more prevalent in usual community medical practice compared with rates observed in the controlled environment of the clinical trial or specialized anticoagulation clinic.