Upsala journal of medical sciences
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Left atrial catheter ablation is useful as symptomatic treatment in selected patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Evaluation requires measurement of arrhythmia-related symptoms. Many of the published protocols have drawbacks and have been used in AF only, with no possible comparison to other ablations that compete for the same resources. U22 is a published protocol that quantifies paroxysmal tachycardia symptoms through scales with 11 answer alternatives, translated into discrete numerical scales 0-10. It has been shown to reflect the clinical improvement after ablation of supraventricular tachycardia. Here we report the use of U22 in measuring improvement after catheter ablation for AF. ⋯ U22 quantifies the symptomatic improvement after AF ablation with adequate internal consistency and construct validity. U22 mirrors aspects of the arrhythmia symptomatology other than SF-36.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of dexmedetomidine on plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor: A double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled study.
Dexmedetomidine (DEX) has neuro-protective effects, but the clinical mechanism remains unclear. ⋯ It appears that DEX could reverse the reduced plasma concentrations of BDNF caused by anesthetics, and this effect lasted for 24 hours after surgery.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Twelve-month follow-up of advance provision of emergency contraception among teenage girls in Sweden-a randomized controlled trial.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of an intervention with advance provision of emergency contraceptive pills (ECP), condoms, and extended information to a targeted group of teenage girls, compared with a control group, 12 months after intervention. ⋯ Even up to 12 months following the intervention, advance provision of ECP at one single occasion, to a specific target group of adolescent girls, shortens the time interval from unprotected intercourse to pill intake, without jeopardizing contraceptive use or increasing sexual risk-taking. Considering the clinical relevance of these results, we suggest that advance provision of ECP could be implemented as a routine preventive measure for this target group.
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Fat embolism to the systemic circulation in polytrauma patients is very common. The fat embolism syndrome (FES), however, is a rare condition. We describe a case of traumatic femur fracture with FES that was presented as acute tonsillar herniation (coning) and brain death postoperatively. We believe that in this case the prone position and moderate hypercapnia contributed to the acute coning.