Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta AnalysisMusic for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients.
Individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD) often suffer from severe distress putting them at greater risk for complications. Music interventions have been used to reduce anxiety and distress and improve physiological functioning in medical patients, however its efficacy for CHD patients needs to be evaluated. ⋯ Music listening may have a beneficial effect on blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, anxiety, and pain in persons with CHD. However, the quality of the evidence is not strong and the clinical significance unclear.Most studies examined the effects of listening to pre-recorded music. More research is needed on the effects of music offered by a trained music therapist.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta AnalysisAlpha blockers prior to removal of a catheter for acute urinary retention in adult men.
Acute urinary retention is a urological emergency in men and requires urgent catheterisation. Any intervention which aims at increasing the rate of a successful trial without a catheter following an acute urinary retention episode would be considered potentially beneficial. Alpha blockers relax prostatic smooth muscle cells thereby decreasing the resistance to urinary flow and by doing so improve urinary symptoms. ⋯ The limited available evidence suggests that alpha blockers increase success rates of TWOC. Alpha blocker side effects are low and comparable to placebo. It is uncertain whether alpha blockers reduce the risk of recurrent urinary retention and need for prostate surgery. The cost effectiveness and recommended duration of alpha blocker treatment after successful TWOC remains unknown. There are a lack of internationally agreed outcome measures for what constitutes successful TWOC. This makes meta-analysis difficult. More randomised clinical trials are needed to address these issues.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta AnalysisIschaemic pre-conditioning for elective liver resections performed under vascular occlusion.
Vascular occlusion is used to reduce blood loss during liver resection surgery. The enzyme markers of liver injury are elevated if vascular occlusion is employed during liver resection. It is not clear whether ischaemic preconditioning prior to vascular occlusion has a protective effect during elective liver resections. ⋯ Currently, there is no evidence to suggest a protective effect of ischaemic preconditioning in non-cirrhotic patients undergoing liver resection under continuous vascular occlusion. Ischaemic preconditioning reduces the blood transfusion requirements in patients undergoing liver resection.
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The majority of strokes are due to blockage of an artery in the brain by a blood clot. Prompt treatment with thrombolytic drugs can restore blood flow before major brain damage has occurred and could improve recovery after stroke. Thrombolytic drugs, however, can also cause serious bleeding in the brain, which can be fatal. One drug, recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA), is licensed for use in highly selected patients within three hours of stroke. ⋯ Overall, thrombolytic therapy appears to result in a significant net reduction in the proportion of patients dead or dependent in activities of daily living. This overall benefit was apparent despite an increase both in deaths (evident at seven to 10 days and at final follow up) and in symptomatic intracranial haemorrhages. Further trials are needed to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from treatment and the environment in which thrombolysis may best be given in routine practice.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta AnalysisHaloperidol plus promethazine for psychosis-induced aggression.
Health services often manage agitated or violent people, and for emergency psychiatric services such behaviour is particularly prevalent (10%). The drugs used in this situation should ensure that the person swiftly and safely regains composure. ⋯ All treatments evaluated within the included studies are effective. Benzodiazepines, however, have the potential to cause respiratory depression, probably midazolam more so than lorazepam, and use of this group of drugs outside of services fully confident of observing for and managing the consequences of respiratory distress is difficult to justify. Haloperidol used on its own is at such risk of generating preventable adverse effects that unless it is the only choice, this evidence directs that this sole treatment should be avoided. Olanzapine IM is valuable when compared with haloperidol plus promethazine but its duration of action is short and re-injection is frequently needed. Haloperidol plus promethazine used in two diverse situations in Brazil and India has much evidence to support its swift and safe clinically valuable effects.