Clinical interventions for venous leg ulcers: Proposals to improve the quality of clinical leg ulcer research

The present status of clinical leg ulcer healing research was reviewed by 25 experts over 2 days on September 28 and 29, 2015. Multiple clinical effectiveness reviews were presented suggesting that published clinical wound healing research often does not meet present (2015) evidence based standards. Specific areas requiring remediation were highlighted and approaches to overcoming existing challenges were proposed. Participants using anonymous voting technology developed an action plan to resolve perceived deficiencies. Statements were accepted if 75% of participants agreed. Older patients with a high frequency of comorbid conditions posed particular difficulties in designing clinical research protocols and better diagnostic categorization is necessary A standardized model template for collecting information about diagnosis and evaluation of the effect of interventions on healing of all types of leg ulcers was considered a high priority. Such a model template could be modified depending on the specific etiology of the leg ulcers. Generally agreed on quantifiable standards to establish degree of morbidity was considered a high priority. There was universal agreement that sources of funding and conflicts of interest needed to be disclosed in presentations and all publications. All clinical research studies should be registered with appropriate authorities. There was substantial enthusiasm for a clinical research network with quality standards for membership and an advisory research core available to investigators. Such a network should be funded and actively managed to insure long‐term viability. The governance of such an entity needs to be established by the wound care community. The present trend to integrate patients into the clinical research process was endorsed and there was enthusiasm to develop patient advocacy for wound healing research.     

Recurrent laryngeal nerve and voice preservation: routine identification and appropriate assessment �C two important steps in thyroid surgery

INTRODUCTION

The aims of this study were to assess and compare vocal cord functions before and after thyroid surgery after intra-operative identification of recurrent laryngeal nerve.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is seen intra-operatively in all cases undergoing thyroid surgeries. Vocal cord functions including any voice change were evaluated by indirect laryngoscopy (I/L) and direct laryngoscopy (D/L) before and after surgery.

RESULTS

Prospective study on 100 patients over 18 months with a total of 146 nerves at risk (NAR). Majority were women (n = 86) with mean age of 37.48 years (range, 13–60 years). RLN was seen in all patients and 19 patients complained of some change in quality of their voice after surgery. Evaluation by I/L and D/L at 6 weeks showed recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (RLNP) in nine (47.36%) and five (26%) of these 19 patients respectively. Analysed according to total NAR, the incidence of voice change and temporary RLN palsy (I/L and D/L) at 6 weeks was still less at 13.01%, 6.16% and 3.42%, respectively. Voice change improved in all cases at 3 months with no RLNP palsy by I/L or D/L. All these 19 patients had undergone difficult or extensive surgery for malignancy, large gland, extratyhroidal spread or fibrosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite identification and preservation of RLN, patients can develop postoperative voice change and RLNP although all voice change cannot be attributed to damaged RLN. Proper assessment of vocal cord functions by I/L and D/L laryngoscopy is required to rule out injuries to these nerves. Risk of damage is higher in patients undergoing more difficult surgery.     

Day Care Surgery in Otolaryngology : a three year Prospective Study

Day care surgery is now an integral part of otolaryngology and is widely practised in the West. But in our military setup it still has to gain popularity. A Day Care Surgical Centre was established at Armed Forces Clinic in 1996. In the period May 1998 to Apr 2001, a total of 752 otolaryngology cases were operated at the centre, of which 474 cases were major and 278 cases were minor. All cases were performed under local anaesthesia supplemented by sedation. Strict patient selection criteria were adopted resulting in a low immediate post-operative complication rate (1.46%). None required admission to hospital for the management of complications. The feasibility of performing otolaryngological surgery on a day care basis is demonstrated, especially in nasal and aural cases. The experience gained shows that high medical standards can be achieved with low resource expenditure. Patient selection criteria and guidelines are suggested.Key Words: Day care, Otolaryngology, Surgery     

POST OPERATIVE PAIN RELIEF IN CAESAREAN SECTION

Eighty female patients in the age group of 20-40 years, weighing 40 ± 15 Kg, in ASA physical status I and II, awaiting either elective or emergency caesarean delivery were selected for this study. Patients with cardiovascular disorders and those with significant systemic ailments were excluded from the study. They were randomly divided into two equal groups of 40 patients each. Group I was subdivided randomly into two equal sub-groups (1A and 1B) of 20 patients each and was selected for administration of epidural narcotics. Patients in sub-group 1A were given epidural morphine in the dose of 3-5 mg and those in subgroup 1B were given buprenorphine in the dose of 0.1-0.15 mg. Group II consisting of 40 patients, were again subdivided randomly into two equal subgroups (2A and 2B) of 20 patients each and were selected for administration of parenteral (intravenous) narcotics. Patients in subgroup 2A were given morphine in the dose of 5-7.5 mg I.V., and those in subgroup 2B were given 0.15-0.3 mg of buprenorphine intravenously. The degree of pain relief was assessed by applying numerical rating scale (NRS) and resulting complications were observed and recorded. It was found that 60-80% of patients with epidural narcotics, with various dosage schedules, experienced good to excellent analgesia as compared to 30-40% of patients with parenteral use of narcotics.KEY WORDS: Analgesia, Caesarean section, Epidural narcotics