Search results for "selection"

Acute hepatitis C: in search of the optimal approach to cure.

2006

Abstract IFN monotherapy for acute hepatitis C can be supported, but a strategy taking into account both baseline (clinical presentation, genotype, HIV coinfection) and early (spontaneous viral decay) virologic response should be developed from carefully conducted, controlled prospective studies comparing a “wait and see strategy”, and different schedules of PEG IFN monotherapy to optimize adherence and costs and to reduce the number needed to treat. The price of the ultimate success of therapy for AVH due to HCV, i.e. a stable and definitive clearance of HCV with no residual liver disease in the long term, should not be paid by a high number of patients who are treated needlessly.

Lipoprotein apheresis in Germany - Still more commonly indicated than implemented. How can patients in need access therapy?

2019

Abstract Background Although lipid-lowering drugs, especially statins, and recently also PCSK9 inhibitors can reduce LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) including coronary artery disease (CAD) events most efficiently, only 5–10% of high-risk cardiovascular patients reach the target values recommended by international guidelines. In patients who cannot be treated adequately by drugs it is possible to reduce increased LDL-C and/or lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) values by the use of lipoprotein apheresis (LA) with the potential to decrease severe CVD events in the range of 70%->80%. Even in Germany, a country with well-established reimbursement guidelines for…

Simplified orthotopic ileocaecal pouch (Mainz pouch) for bladder substitution

2005

Evidence-based medicine and the problem of healthy volunteers

2017

Abstract Healthy controls are subjects without the disease being studied but may have other conditions indirectly affecting outcome. In the present epidemics of obesity a few subjects with undiagnosed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease enter clinical studies as controls, producing biased results. Stricter selection criteria should be considered to prevent this risk.

Mobilization of short-term memory capacity for odors in discriminative tests: implication for assessors' selection

2004

Abstract The objective was to determine whether individual short-term memory capacities for odor are related to performance at discriminative tests. Two groups of 11 subjects were formed with different short-term memory for odor but equivalent sensitivity toward benzaldehyde, the aromatic compound to be detected in discriminative tests. The subject sensitivity was determined by d ′ values, derived from a detection task. Memory span for odors was the largest number of odors memorized at once. It ranged from 1 to 3 for the low memory span group and from 5 to 7 for the high memory span group. Then, subjects performed 20 triangle tests and 12 2-out-of-5 tests with two strawberry flavored soft d…

Patient selection, echocardiographic screening and treatment strategies for interventional tricuspid repair using the edge-to-edge repair technique

2018

Severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) has long been neglected despite its well-known association with mortality. While surgical mortality rates remain high in isolated tricuspid valve surgery, interventional TR repair is rapidly evolving as an alternative to cardiac surgery in selected patients at high surgical risk. Currently, interventional edge-to-edge repair is the most frequently applied technique for TR repair even though a device has not been developed for this particular indication. Due to the inherent differences in tricuspid and mitral valve anatomy and pathology, percutaneous repair of the tricuspid valve is challenging due to a variety of factors including the complexity and varia…

Subgrouping and targeted exercise programmes for knee and hip osteoarthritis (STEER OA) individual participant data meta-analysis. Progress update an…

2019

Analysis of cardiac and pulmonary complication probabilities after radiation therapy for patients with early-stage breast cancer

2009

Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiobiological implications of clinical use of respiratory-gated techniques for postoperative radiation therapy of early-stage left-sided breast cancer after breast-conserving surgery. Material and methods. Radiation therapy treatment plans of 80 patients with early-stage breast cancer (stage I–II), receiving whole breast irradiation after breast-conserving therapy, were analyzed. The control group consisting of 47 patients received standard radiation therapy, and the respiratory-gated group consisting of 33 patients received deep inspiration-gated radiation therapy. Normal tissue complication probabilities (NTCP) for cardiac mortali…

Methodology for high-quality studies on course and prognosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

2012

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are characterized by a chronic course with an alternation of relapses and remissions. Questions about prognosis are important for the patient who wants to know how the disease will affect his/her life and also for clinicians to make management decisions. Correct selection of the patients is the basis for good methodological studies on the course of IBD. A great proportion of data on the course of IBD is derived from a limited number of cohort studies. Studies help to define the endpoints for clinical trials and to identify subsets of patients in whom the prognosis of the disease can be stratified according to clinical features. Specific scientific requirem…

Renal artery denervation for treating resistant hypertension: Definition of the disease, patient selection and description of the procedure

2012

Arterial hypertension is responsible for a significant burden of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, worldwide. Although several rational and integrated pharmacological strategies are available, the control of high blood pressure still remains largely unsatisfactory. Failure to achieve effective blood pressure control in treated hypertensive patients may have a substantial impact on individual global cardiovascular risk, since it significantly increases the risk of developing hypertension-related macrovascular and microvascular complications. Arterial hypertension is arbitrarily defined as 'resistant' or 'refractory' when the recommended blood pressure goals (clinic blood pressure below…