Early Side Effects (early + side_effects)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Randomized trial comparing primidone initiation schedules for treating essential tremor

MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 2 2002
Padraig O'Suilleabhain MB
Abstract Early side effects are common when primidone is used to treat essential tremor, with as many as one-third of patients failing to tolerate the tablets. Lower doses can be prescribed initially using a suspension formulation. We suspected suspension initiation would result in fewer early side effects, allow better acclimatization, and improve compliance. Forty patients with essential tremor were randomized to begin primidone treatment using either 2.5 mg doses in the suspension form or 25 mg doses in the tablet form. Doses gradually increased over 3 weeks to 150 mg/day. This was a double-blind, double-dummy trial. Medication cessation due to side effects was designated the primary end-point. Four patients in the suspension group and two in the tablet group dropped out due to early side effects, resulting in a relative risk of 1.9 (95% confidence interval 0.4 to 9.2). Side effects in the first 48 hours of treatment were equally common, affecting seven subjects in each group. Treatment benefits were the same in both groups. We concluded that use of a very low initial dose and a graduated titration schedule in suspension formulation did not appear to improve primidone tolerability. If anything, compliance tended to be worse when compared with the tablet formulation, though the study was under-powered to reject the null hypothesis of equivalence. © 2002 Movement Disorder Society. [source]


Pterygium surgery long term follow-up

ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2009
T WOOD
Purpose To determine if a pterygium surgical procedure consisting of minimal conjunctival removal, excision of the hypertrophic subconjunctival fibrovascular tissue, application of mitomycin 0.25 mg/ml for 1 minute combined with temporary nasal tarsorrhaphy, and postoperative dexamethasone/antibiotic drops achieved the following: safely simplified pterygium removal, controlled the early side effects of mitomycin, reduced the rate of recurrence, and eliminated the need for conjunctival transplantation. Methods Twenty eyes of 19 patients underwent the procedure with mitomycin; fifteen were primary and 5, recurrent. These were compared to a previous group of 28 eyes in 26 patients that underwent pterygium/tarsorrhaphy surgery without mitomycin; twenty had primary and 8 had recurrent pterygia. Postoperatively, all eyes in both groups were treated with dexamethasone/antibiotic drops. Results In the mitomycin group (average follow-up 25 months), 19 of 20 eyes healed uneventfully. At 12 months, there had been no recurrences in the mitomycin group. In the non-mitomycin group (average follow-up 43 months), 9 (32%) recurred within 12 months; four (44%) of these required a second procedure at an average of 9 months. At 23 and 33 months, 2 (10%) eyes treated with mitomycin presented with asymptomatic, one mm recurrences that required no additional treatment. Conjunctival healing, as reflected in the time from surgery until tarsorrhaphy opening, was significantly longer in the mitomycin group, 37 vs. 17 days (P = .001). Conclusion The described technique provided a safe and successful approach to pterygium management. [source]