Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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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.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
ReviewAmfetamine for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in people with intellectual disabilities.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly recognised as occurring in people with intellectual disability (ID), although treatment of ADHD in this population has not been tested widely. Amfetamine has been used to treat ADHD in people with and without ID, although the evidence for its efficacy in people with ID is unclear. ⋯ There is very little evidence for the effectiveness of amfetamine for ADHD in people with ID . Prescribing in this population is based on extrapolation of research in people without ID. More research into effectiveness and tolerability is urgently needed.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta AnalysisLate (>7 days) postnatal corticosteroids for chronic lung disease in preterm infants.
Many preterm infants who survive go on to develop chronic lung disease (CLD). This is true in infants who have had respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and in infants without RDS. This is probably due to persistence of inflammation in the lung. Corticosteroids have powerful anti-inflammatory effects and have been used to treat established CLD. However, it is unclear whether any beneficial effects outweigh the adverse effects of these drugs. ⋯ The benefits of late corticosteroid therapy may not outweigh actual or potential adverse effects. Although there continues to be concern about an increased incidence of adverse neurological outcomes in infants treated with postnatal steroids (see also review of "Early postnatal corticosteroids for preventing chronic lung disease in preterm infants"), this review of postnatal corticosteroid treatment for CLD initiated after seven days of age suggests that late therapy may reduce neonatal mortality without significantly increasing the risk of adverse long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, the methodological quality of the studies determining the long-term outcome is limited in some cases; in some studies the surviving children have only been assessed before school age when some important neurological outcomes cannot be determined with certainty, and no study was sufficiently powered to detect increased rates of important adverse long-term neurosensory outcomes. Given the evidence of both benefits and harms of treatment, and the limitations of the evidence at present, it appears prudent to reserve the use of late corticosteroids to infants who cannot be weaned from mechanical ventilation and to minimise the dose and duration of any course of treatment.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta Analysis Comparative StudyElective high frequency oscillatory ventilation versus conventional ventilation for acute pulmonary dysfunction in preterm infants.
Respiratory failure due to lung immaturity is a major cause of mortality in preterm infants. Although the use of intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) in neonates with respiratory failure saves lives, its use is associated with lung injury and chronic lung disease (CLD). A newer form of ventilation called high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) has been shown to result in less lung injury in experimental studies. ⋯ There is no clear evidence that elective HFOV offers important advantages over CV when used as the initial ventilation strategy to treat preterm infants with acute pulmonary dysfunction. There may be a small reduction in the rate of CLD with HFOV use, but the evidence is weakened by the inconsistency of this effect across trials and the overall borderline significance. Future trials on elective HFOV should target those infants who are at most risk of CLD (extremely preterm infants), compare different strategies for generating HFOV and CV, and report important long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2009
Review Meta Analysis Comparative StudyRobot assistant for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
The role of a robotic assistant in laparoscopic cholecystectomy is controversial. While some trials have shown distinct advantages of robotic assistant over a human assistant, others have not, and it is unclear which robotic assistant is best. ⋯ Although robot-assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy appears safe, there seems to be no significant advantages over human-assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We were unable to identify trials comparing one type of robot assistant versus another. Further randomised trials with low bias-risk and random errors are needed.