Search results for " Combination"
showing 10 items of 923 documents
Randomized controlled study of early medication change for non-improvers to antidepressant therapy in major depression – The EMC trial
2015
Patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and no improvement after two weeks of antidepressant pharmacotherapy have a high risk of treatment failure. The aim of the study was to determine whether an early medication change (EMC) strategy is superior to a guideline-based treatment in MDD patients without improvement after two weeks of antidepressant pharmacotherapy. Eight-hundred-and-eighty-nine patients with MDD were enrolled, 879 patients received the SSRI escitalopram. Of those, 192 patients had no improvement, defined as a reduction of < 20% on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) after 14 days of treatment, and were randomly assigned to open treatment with the EMC strategy…
Early improvement under mirtazapine and paroxetine predicts later stable response and remission with high sensitivity in patients with major depressi…
2003
OBJECTIVE Current clinical knowledge holds that antidepressants have a delayed onset of efficacy. However, the delayed onset hypothesis has been questioned recently by survival analytical approaches. We aimed to test whether early improvement under antidepressant treatment is a clinically useful predictor of later stable response and remission. METHOD We analyzed data from a randomized double-blind controlled trial with mirtazapine and paroxetine in patients with major depression (DSM-IV). Improvement was defined as a 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D-17) score reduction of > or = 20%. Stable response was defined as > or = 50% HAM-D-17 score reduction at week 4 and week 6,…
Mepolizumab for severe eosinophilic asthma (DREAM): a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
2012
BACKGROUND: Some patients with severe asthma have recurrent asthma exacerbations associated with eosinophilic airway inflammation. Early studies suggest that inhibition of eosinophilic airway inflammation with mepolizumab-a monoclonal antibody against interleukin 5-is associated with a reduced risk of exacerbations. We aimed to establish efficacy, safety, and patient characteristics associated with the response to mepolizumab. METHODS: We undertook a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at 81 centres in 13 countries between Nov 9, 2009, and Dec 5, 2011. Eligible patients were aged 12-74 years, had a history of recurrent severe asthma exacerbations, and had signs of eosinophil…
Sequential alternating deferiprone and deferoxamine treatment compared to deferiprone monotherapy: main findings and clinical follow-up of a large mu…
2011
In β-thalassemia major (β-TM) patients, iron chelation therapy is mandatory to reduce iron overload secondary to transfusions. Recommended first line treatment is deferoxamine (DFO) from the age of 2 and second line treatment after the age of 6 is deferiprone (L1). A multicenter randomized open-label trial was designed to assess the effectiveness of long-term alternating sequential L1-DFO versus L1 alone iron chelation therapy in β-TM patients. Deferiprone 75 mg/kg 4 days/week and DFO 50 mg/kg/day for 3 days/week was compared with L1 alone 75 mg/kg 7 days/week during 5-year follow-up. A total of 213 thalassemia patients were randomized and underwent intention-to-treat analysis. Statisticall…
Omalizumab in patients with symptomatic chronic idiopathic/spontaneous urticaria despite standard combination therapy
2013
Patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria/chronic spontaneous urticaria (CIU/CSU) often continue to experience symptoms despite receiving standard-of-care therapy with H1-antihistamines along with 1 or more add-on therapies.We sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 24 weeks of treatment with omalizumab in patients with persistent CIU/CSU despite treatment with H₁-antihistamines at up to 4 times the approved dose plus H₂-antihistamines, leukotriene receptor antagonists, or both.In this phase III study patients were randomized to receive 6 subcutaneous injections at 4-week intervals of either 300 mg of omalizumab or placebo, followed by a 16-week observation period. The primary object…
The Effect of Age, Sex, Smoking and Co-Medication on Serum Levels of Venlafaxine and O-Desmethylvenlafaxine under Naturalistic Conditions
2012
Venlafaxine (VEN) is a modern antidepressant which exerts both serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition. In this study we examined the influence of age, sex, smoking, and co-medication on serum levels of VEN and its metabolite O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODVEN) in patients treated with VEN under naturalistic conditions.We retrospectively evaluated 478 TDM analyses of VEN requested in the Pychiatric University Hospitals of Mainz, Regensburg, and Würzburg. The determination of serum levels was performed by virtually identical chromatographic methods in the TDM laboratories of the participating hospitals.Serum levels varied widely on each dose level. Women had about 30% higher dose-correct…
Endophthalmitis following penetrating eye injuries
1997
Postinjury endophthalmitis is the eye infection with the worst prognosis. A retrospective 9-year study was made of penetrating eye injuries, with an analysis of the incidence of infection and its relation to the type of wound and the presence of intraocular foreign bodies. There were 403 cases of penetrating eye injury; of these, 233 affected the cornea and 170 involved the posterior pole. Intraocular foreign bodies were present in 40 cases. Endophthalmitis developed in 4.2% of cases (17/403), and was more common in patients with posterior pole involvement (7%) than in purely corneal trauma (2.1%) (p = 0.03, Chi-square). Infection was in turn more frequent in the presence of intraocular for…
Treatment of human brucellosis with rifampin plus minocycline
2003
In order to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a high intravenous dose of rifampin plus oral minocycline (administered daily for 3 weeks) for the treatment of acute brucellosis, we retrospectively reviewed the outcome of 239 consecutive patients (135 adults and 104 children) diagnosed and treated over a 17-year period in Italy. The combination used resulted in 100% response and a relapse rate lower than 2%. Fifty-two (30 adults and 22 children) (29.8%) complained of mild adverse effects including an increase in aspartate aminotransferase (>250 IU) observed in 12 cases and considered related to rifampin and in 11 cases a reversible hyperpigmentation of the tongue attributed to minocyc…
Does an 'autoimmune' profile affect the clinical profile of chronic hepatitis C? An Italian multicentre survey.
2004
SUMMARY. Nonorgan-specific autoantibodies (NOSA) are common in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. It is unclear whether serological markers of autoimmunity segregate in a cohort of cases with more severe liver damage. We assessed the relationship between NOSA and demographic, biochemical and histological features in 502 subjects with anti-HCV positive, HCV-RNA positive, HBsAg negative chronic hepatitis consecutively referred to four Italian liver units. Percutaneous liver biopsy was performed in all subjects. A single pathologist scored the biopsies using histology activity index classification. The overall prevalence of positivity for any NOSA was 36.9%. Antinuclear antibod…
Caspofungin first-line therapy for invasive aspergillosis in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients: an European Organisation for Res…
2010
Caspofungin at standard dose was evaluated as first-line monotherapy of mycologically documented probable/proven invasive aspergillosis (IA) (unmodified European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycosis Study Group criteria) in allogeneic hematopoietic SCT patients. The primary efficacy end point was complete or partial response at end of caspofungin treatment. Response at week 12, survival and safety were additional end points. Enrollment was stopped prematurely because of low accrual, with 42 enrolled and 24 eligible, giving the study a power of 85%. Transplant was from unrelated donors in 16 patients; acute or chronic GVHD was present in 15. In all, 12 patients were neut…