Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialSocial interactions in virtual reality exposure therapy: A proof-of-concept pilot study.
Research on virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) has demonstrated good treatment efficacy with regards to several anxiety disorders. Yet, there is lack of knowledge about the value of integrating interaction between clients and virtual humans in VRET. Such interaction might prove effective in treating psychological complaints that involve social interactions, such as social anxiety. ⋯ These findings indicate that virtual reality technology that incorporates social interactions may be successfully applied for therapeutic purposes.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialImpact of regional femoral nerve block during general anesthesia for hip arthoplasty on blood pressure, heart rate and pain control: A randomized controlled study.
Adequate pain management is essential for preventing hemodynamic instability which can affect the perfusion of vital organs during the perioperative period, particularly in geriatric patients. For hip arthroplasty, peripheral nerve block is frequently used, limiting the adverse effects of opioid and non-opioid analgesics. ⋯ Femoral nerve block improved perioperative hemodynamic stability mostly likely attributable to an overall reduced sympathico adrenergic tone.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
CT-guided satellite ganglion block for the treatment of Prostatectomy pain in survivors of breast cancer.
To describe the feasibility and efficacy of CT-guided satellite ganglion block in the management of Prostatectomy pain in survivors of breast cancer. ⋯ CT-guided satellite ganglion block is a safe and successful treatment of Prostatectomy pain with few or no side-effects.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Kinetic therapy in multiple trauma patients with severe blunt chest trauma: an analysis at a level-1 trauma center.
Chest trauma is a relevant risk factor for mortality after multiple trauma. Kinetic therapy (KT) represents a potential treatment option in order to restore pulmonary function. Decision criteria for performing kinetic therapy are not fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the decision making process to initiate kinetic therapy in a well defined multiple trauma cohort. ⋯ Kinetic therapy is an option in severely injured patients with severe chest trauma. Decision making is not only based on anatomical aspects such as the AIS(Chest), but on overall injury severity, pulmonary contusions and physiological deterioration. It could be assumed that the increased mortality in patients receiving KT is primarily caused by these factors and does not reflect an independent adverse effect of KT. Furthermore, KT was not shown to be an independent risk factor for mortality.
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Technol Health Care · Jan 2015
Secondary triage classification using an ensemble random forest technique.
Triage of patients in the emergency department is a complex task based on several uncertainties and ambiguous information. Triage must be implemented within two to five minutes to avoid potential fatality and increased waiting time. ⋯ With this combination, the random forest reduces the variance, and the randomized resembling reduces the bias, leading to the reduced out-of-bag error.