South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Comparison of a standard ibuprofen treatment regimen with a new ibuprofen/paracetamol/codeine combination in chronic osteo-arthritis.
Twenty-eight patients with osteoarthritis participated in a prospective, double-blind, cross-over study to compare the safety and efficacy of a new combination analgesic containing ibuprofen 200 mg, paracetamol 250 mg and codeine phosphate 10 mg per tablet (Myprodol; Rio Ethicals) with a standard treatment regimen (ibuprofen 200 mg per tablet). The combination tablet was found to provide significantly better pain relief than ibuprofen alone (P less than 0.05). Analysis of the results of haematological, hepatic and renal function tests showed no statistically significant differences between treatments. No serious side-effects or clinically important changes were encountered with either drug.
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Paraffin pneumonia is a common form of poisoning, but pneumatoceles are an uncommon complication. This is a report of 6 patients who developed pneumatoceles after the ingestion of paraffin. ⋯ The pneumatoceles were discovered at the earliest on day 6 and, although extensive and in 2 cases bilateral, caused no clinical impairment of respiratory function. The pneumatoceles appear to resolve spontaneously but this may take more than 200 days.
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A 2-day study to assess the safety and efficacy of a combination analgesic, Stopayne (Rio Ethicals), was conducted in 23 postoperative plastic surgery patients with pain of moderate to severe intensity. Statistically significant pain relief was attained, with 2 (9%) patients reporting complete relief 1 hour after taking the tablets and 19 (82%) reporting satisfactory relief (P less than 0.01). ⋯ The average time taken for analgesia to occur was 37.7 min and it lasted an average of 3.8 h. On being woken by pain 18 (78%) patients reported that they were able to sleep again after taking the study drug; 19 patients reported that the tablets helped them to fall asleep.
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Previous erratic use of intermittent intramuscular and intravenous morphine or pethidine for postoperative analgesia prompted a prospective trial of continuous intravenous morphine delivered by an infusion pump. The rate was adjusted to keep the patient free of pain--as assessed by observation in the infant and enquiry in the older child. ⋯ The results of a cohort of 20 patients (aged 3 months-12 years) are presented. Thanks to positive parental and nursing staff support, and absence of complications, administration of postoperative analgesia with continuous intravenous morphine infusion is now standard practice in this unit.
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Two unusual cases of congenital scoliosis with distematomyelia, without median septa and with single dural sacs, are described. Both cases were neurologically intact without any stigmata of diastematomyelia in the lower extremities. Computed tomographic myelography added valuable information to the radiological anatomy.