Articles: infusions.
-
Emergency physicians commonly treat patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (AFL) with rapid ventricular response, and intravenous (IV) diltiazem is the most commonly used medication for rate control of such patients. We sought to compare rate control success and safety outcomes for emergency department (ED) patients with AF or AFL who, after a diltiazem bolus, received a diltiazem drip compared to those who did not receive a drip. ⋯ For patients with AF or AFL, the use of a diltiazem drip after an IV diltiazem bolus was associated with less rate control in the ED.
-
Restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom disease (RLS/WED) causes a strong urge to move legs while resting. Restless legs syndrome/WED is an often-inherited disease occurring in 3% to 10% of adult populations, increasing with age. Severity varies from mild disturbance of sleep to painful restless legs and arms, loss of sleep, fatigue, and risk of suicide. ⋯ The effects last only as long as the infusion continues. A patient with RLS/WED and persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD) was relieved of both RLS/WED and PGAD symptoms. These case reports suggest that intrathecal infusion of low-dose morphine is an effective treatment of severe RLS.
-
Aims/Background To investigate the predictive value of the pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) for estimating the near-term efficacy of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) in patients with locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods In this retrospective study, data were collected from patients with locally advanced HCC treated with HAIC between January 2018 and June 2022. Patients were categorized based on their pretreatment NLRs and analyzed using propensity score matching (PSM). ⋯ Both univariate and multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that a high pretreatment NLR was an independent negative prognostic factor for ORR (hazard ratio [HR], 3.464; 95% CI, 1.383-8.678; p = 0.008) and PFS (HR, 1.634; 95% CI, 1.026-2.600; p = 0.038). No significant differences in the incidence of adverse events were observed between the groups. Conclusion Pretreatment NLR is a readily obtainable and effective biomarker for predicting the near-term efficacy of HAIC in patients with locally advanced HCC.