Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Subjective Benefit (subjective + benefit)
Selected AbstractsGabapentin can improve postural stability and quality of life in primary orthostatic tremorMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 7 2005Julian P. Rodrigues MD Abstract Primary orthostatic tremor (OT) is characterized by leg tremor and instability on standing. High frequency (13,18 Hz) tremor bursting is present in leg muscles during stance, and posturography has shown greater than normal sway. We report on an open-label add-on study of gabapentin in 6 patients with OT. Six patients were studied with surface electromyography, force platform posturography, and a modified Parkinson's disease questionnaire (PDQ-39) quality of life (QOL) scale before and during treatment with gabapentin 300 mg t.d.s. If on other medications for OT, these were continued unchanged. Of the 6 patients, 4 reported a subjective benefit of 50 to 75% with gabapentin, 3 of whom showed reduced tremor amplitude and postural sway of up to 70%. Dynamic balance improved in all 3 patients who completed the protocol. QOL data from 5 patients showed improvement in all cases. No adverse effects were noted. Gabapentin may improve tremor, stability, and QOL in patients with OT, and symptomatic response correlated with a reduction in tremor amplitude and postural sway. The findings confirm previous reports of symptomatic benefit with gabapentin and provide justification for larger controlled clinical trials. Further work is required to establish the optimal dosage and to validate the methods used to quantify the response to treatment. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society [source] Bone-anchored hearing aid subjective benefit for unilateral deafness,,THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 3 2010John W. House MD Abstract Objectives/Hypothesis: Determine the benefit of the bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) in patients with unilateral deafness. Study Design: Retrospective case series and prospective questionnaire study at a tertiary referral center. Methods: Patients with unilateral deafness of various etiologies who were implanted with a BAHA (n = 126) or not implanted with a BAHA after a translabyrinthine craniotomy (n = 126) were mailed questionnaires. A total of 139 patients (55%) responded to the questionnaires. Patients who were implanted with a BAHA received a general questionnaire concerning BAHA usage, the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB), and the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Questionnaire (SSQ). Patients not implanted with a BAHA received only the SSQ hearing questionnaire. Results: Patients with unilateral deafness demonstrated a benefit with BAHA use on the APHAB. Most improvement with the BAHA was seen in the Background Noise subscale, with a 17.4% improvement. Ease of Communication and Reverberation subscales also demonstrated an 11.6% and 13.2% benefit, respectively. Patients with a BAHA demonstrated better scores in the SSQ Speech subscale when compared to unilaterally deaf patients who did not have a BAHA, although this difference was not significant. Conclusions: The APHAB demonstrated significant benefit with the use of a BAHA in patients with unilateral deafness. Although the SSQ speech subscale showed overall improvement in auditory disability with the use of a BAHA, this difference was not significant. However, the SSQ hearing questionnaire demonstrated specific situations were the BAHA is most useful. Laryngoscope, 2010 [source] ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The bone-anchored hearing aid in the rehabilitation of single-sided deafness: experience with 58 patientsCLINICAL OTOLARYNGOLOGY, Issue 4 2010T.P.C. Martin Clin. Otolaryngol. 2010, 35, 284,290 Objectives:, To assess the efficacy of the bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) in the rehabilitation of single-sided deafness (SSD). Study design:, Retrospective case,control series review. Setting:, Tertiary referral unit. Patients:, Fifty-eight consecutive patients that had a bone-anchored hearing aid for single-sided deafness completed outcome questionnaires, building upon earlier audiological assessment of 19 patients. Single-sided deafness controls (n = 49) were mainly acoustic neuroma patients. Main outcome measurements: speech discrimination testing in directional noise, speech and spatial qualities of hearing questionnaire and the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI). Results:, The mean follow-up time was 28.4 months. Five (13%) of the bone-anchored hearing aid patients were non-users because of lack of benefit. The audiometric testing confirmed that when noise was on the bone-anchored hearing aid side speech perception was reduced but benefited when noise was on the side of the hearing ear. There was no difference between the Speech and Spatial Qualities of Hearing Scores in bone-anchored hearing aid users and controls. In particular there was no difference in the spatial subscores. In the bone-anchored hearing aid users the median Glasgow Benefit Inventory score was 11. If the non-users are included then 13 (22%) patients had no or detrimental (negative) Benefit scores. No or negative benefit scores were more frequent in those deaf for <10 years. In open-field questions, patients felt the bone-anchored hearing aid was most useful in small groups or in ,one-to-one' conversation. Conclusions:, Bone-anchored hearing aid rehabilitation for single-sided deafness is less successful than for other indications, reflected here by relatively low median Glasgow Benefit Inventory scores. There was also no significant difference between controls and bone-anchored hearing aid users in the Speech and Spatial Qualities of Hearing Questionnaire. Patients with a longer duration of deafness report greater subjective benefit than those more recently deafened, perhaps due to differing expectations. [source] Rejuvenating facial massage , a bane or boon?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 7 2002Neena Khanna MD Background Facial massage is an extremely popular form of beauty treatment and is thought to rejuvenate the skin. We decided to study the benefits and untoward effects of this form of facial beauty treatment. Methods One hundred and forty-two women (aged 17,63 years), who had received facial beauty treatment in three well-established beauty parlours in New Delhi, were entered into the study and observed for a period of 12 weeks after the facial beauty treatment. Twenty-seven of the subjects had a repeat facial beauty treatment 4,6 weeks after entry into the study, giving a total of 169 massage episodes observed. Immediate and delayed effects of the beauty treatment were examined. Results Facial beauty treatment generally consists of three steps: vigorous massaging of the face with creams, steaming (using a hot towel or a steaming gadget), and application of a face mask containing adsorbents and astringents. In our study, the creams used for massage included "off the shelf" creams manufactured by standard cosmetic companies in 95 (56.3%) subjects, herbal creams in 61 (36.1%), and creams containing exotic ingredients, such as gold salts, in 13 (7.7%). Sixty-one (36.1%) patients developed erythema and puffiness within 15 min to 2 h after the beauty treatment. This lasted for 2,6 h. Forty-one (24.3%) women underwent the procedure of comedone extraction after steaming. In 12 (7.1%) of these women, persistent erythema was noticed at the site of comedone extraction. Eight (4.7%) women developed mild dermatitis on the face, 2,7 days after the facial beauty treatment. Patch testing with constituents used in the facial beauty treatment was positive in four patients (herbal cream, 1; witch hazel, 1; orange face pack, 1; and gold cream, 1). In 47 (33.1%) subjects, an acneiform eruption was observed 3,10 weeks after the facial beauty treatment (mean, 6.1 ± 3 weeks). Thirteen (27.7%) of these subjects had taken the facial beauty treatment for the first time, whereas 34 (72.3%) developed an acneiform eruption after every facial massage. The predominant lesions were deep-seated nodules, although a few comedones, especially closed ones, were present in some patients. Lesions were always present on the cheeks, an area of focus during the facial massage, and healed with hyperpigmentation. The benefits of facial beauty treatment, as mentioned by the subjects, included a feeling of freshness and rejuvenation in 84 (59.1%), keeping the skin supple in 76 (53.5%), feeling of warmth and tightening of the skin in 71 (50%), and delaying the onset of wrinkles in 21 (14.8%). Conclusions Although there are several subjective benefits with facial beauty treatment, there may be immediate side-effects, such as erythema and edema, as well as delayed problems, such as dermatitis and acneiform eruption, in about one-third of patients. [source] | ||||||||||