The American journal of the medical sciences
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Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter (AF/AFL) are the most common arrhythmias encountered in clinical practice. Rate versus rhythm control remains a difficult decision, especially in the acute setting. Ibutilide is a class III antiarrhythmic indicated for pharmacological cardioversion of recent-onset AF/AFL. At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, restoration of sinus rhythm is desirable because many patients have contraindications to anticoagulation. In addition, most are on multiple medications that prolong the QT interval; therefore, the objective of this study was to establish the safety and efficacy of ibutilide. ⋯ Overall, ibutilide is safe and effective in cancer patients when used for acute cardioversion of AF/AFL. Despite the use of multiple medications that can potentially prolong the QT interval, no patient experienced serious life-threatening rhythm disturbances or significant QT prolongation during ibutilide administration.
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Meta Analysis
Different β-blockers and initiation time in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery: a meta-analysis.
The effects of differences among β-blockers and initiation times in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery (NCS) remain unknown. On June 1, 2012, the authors searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify all trials of perioperative β-blockers in patients undergoing NCS published between January 1960 and June 2012. The authors included only randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled trials of perioperatively administered β-blockers (ie, during the pre-, intra- and/or postoperative period) in patients with at least 1 risk factor for coronary artery disease undergoing NCS. ⋯ Indirect comparisons demonstrated that perioperative atenolol therapy was associated with lower mortality and incidence of MI. β-blocker therapy initiated >1 week before surgery was associated with improved postoperative mortality. Perioperative β-blocker treatment of patients undergoing NCS increases the incidence of stroke but decreases the incidence of MI, leading to a nonsignificant decrease in mortality. The authors also observed that atenolol treatment or β-blocker therapy initiated >1 week before NCS was associated with improved outcomes.
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Management of primary immune thrombocytopenia, 2012: a survey of oklahoma hematologists-oncologists.
Management options for patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) have increased, and treatment of patients with ITP has changed during the past 10 years. ⋯ In a time of changing management for patients with ITP, these data document reported current management in Oklahoma and provide a basis for serial comparisons across time and for comparisons with other regions and comparison of management with patient outcomes.