Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2015
Review Meta AnalysisIndacaterol, a once-daily beta2-agonist, versus twice-daily beta₂-agonists or placebo for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Indacaterol is an inhaled long-acting beta2-agonist that is administered once daily and has been investigated as a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Four different doses have been investigated (75 mcg, 150 mcg, 300 mcg and 600 mcg). The relative effects of different doses of once-daily indacaterol in the management of patients with COPD are uncertain. ⋯ For patients with stable COPD, use of indacaterol versus placebo results in statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in lung function and quality of life. The clinical benefit for lung function is at least as good as that seen with twice-daily long-acting beta2-agonists. The comparative effect on quality of life remains uncertain, as important differences cannot be excluded.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2015
Review Meta AnalysisNon-invasive positive pressure ventilation for prevention of complications after pulmonary resection in lung cancer patients.
Pulmonary complications are often observed during the postoperative period of lung resection for patients with lung cancer. Some conditions such as intubation, a long stay in the intensive care unit, the high cost of antibiotics and mortality may be avoided with the prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications. Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) is widely accepted and often used in hospitals, and may reduce the number of pulmonary complications and mortality after this type of surgery. Therefore, a systematic review is required to map and critically assess the benefits and harms of NIPPV for patients undergoing lung resection. ⋯ This review demonstrated that there was no additional benefit of using NIPPV in postoperative pulmonary resection for all outcomes analysed (pulmonary complications, rate of intubation, mortality, rate of non-pulmonary complications, postoperative consumption of antibiotics, length of intensive care unit stay, length of hospital stay and adverse effects related to NIPPV). However, the quality of evidence is 'very low', 'low' and 'moderate' since there were few studies, with small sample size and low frequency of outcomes. New well-designed and well-conducted randomised trials are needed to answer the questions of this review with greater certainty.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2015
Review Meta AnalysisCorticosteroids for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is a progressive or relapsing and remitting paralysing illness probably due to an autoimmune response which should benefit from corticosteroids. Non-randomised studies suggest that corticosteroids are beneficial. Two commonly used corticosteroids are prednisone and prednisolone. Both are usually given as oral tablets. Prednisone is converted into prednisolone in the liver so that the effect of the two drugs is usually the same. Another corticosteroid, called dexamethasone, is more potent and is used in smaller doses. ⋯ Very low quality evidence from one small, randomised trial did not show a statistically significant benefit from oral prednisone compared with no treatment. Nevertheless, corticosteroids are commonly used in practice. According to moderate quality evidence from one RCT, the efficacy of high-dose monthly oral dexamethasone was not statistically different from that of daily standard-dose oral prednisolone. Most adverse events occurred with similar frequencies in both groups, but sleeplessness and moon facies were significantly less common with monthly dexamethasone. Further research is needed to identify factors which predict response.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2015
Review Meta AnalysisMetoclopramide for post-pyloric placement of naso-enteral feeding tubes.
Enteral nutrition by feeding tube is a common and efficient method of providing nutritional support to prevent malnutrition in hospitalised patients who have adequate gastrointestinal function but who are unable to eat. Gastric feeding may be associated with higher rates of food aspiration and pneumonia than post-pyloric naso-enteral tubes. Thus, enteral feeding tubes are placed directly into the small intestine rather than the stomach, and the use of metoclopramide, a prokinetic agent, has been recommended to achieve post-pyloric placement, but its efficacy is controversial. Moreover, metoclopramide may include adverse reactions, which with high doses or prolonged use may be serious and irreversible. ⋯ In this review, we found only four studies that fitted our inclusion criteria. These were small, underpowered studies, in which metoclopramide was given at doses of 10 mg and 20 mg. Our analysis showed that metoclopramide did not assist post-pyloric placement of naso-enteral feeding tubes.Ideally randomised clinical trials should be performed that have a significant sample size, administering metoclopramide against control, however, given the lack of efficacy revealed by this review it is unlikely that further studies will be performed.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2015
Review Meta AnalysisPalliative radiotherapy regimens for patients with thoracic symptoms from non-small cell lung cancer.
Palliative radiotherapy to the chest is often used in patients with lung cancer, but radiotherapy regimens are more often based on tradition than research results. This is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2001 and previously updated in 2006. ⋯ Radiotherapy for patients with incurable non-small cell lung cancer can improve thoracic symptoms. Care should be taken with the dose to the spinal cord to reduce the risk of radiation myelopathy. The higher dose, more fractionated palliative radiotherapy regimens do not provide better or more durable palliation and their use to prolong survival is not supported by strong evidence. More research is needed into reducing the acute toxicity of large fraction regimens and into the role of radical compared to high dose palliative radiotherapy. In the future, large trials comparing different RT regimens may be difficult to set up because of the increasing use of systemic chemotherapy. Trials looking at how best to integrate these two modalities, particularly in good PS patients, need to be carried out.