Developing ‘FOCUS’: A project to promote effective practice in child and adolescent mental health services in the UK

Summary UK health policy requires child and adolescent mental health service providers to demonstrate that their services are effective. The FOCUS project has been developed to improve the availability and accessibility of research evidence and innovation, to support purchasers in the effective commissioning of services and to help providers base service provision on evidence of effectiveness and develop methods of evaluation.     

Using a supervisory framework to support and evaluate a multiproject practice development programme

? The paper describes a multiproject practice development programme undertaken over a period of 1 year. ? The background and development of the programme are outlined, whilst attention is paid to the innovatory nature of the work, particularly the use of inductive, deductive and integrated approaches to both change implementation and project supervision. ? The programme was monitored throughout using different data sources and the paper uses evaluative material retrospectively to provide answers to organizational and professional difficulties which arose during the course of the programme. ? The authors conclude that the use of combinations of different models for practice development has potential, but requires careful supervision. ? They also recommend that those involved in practice development are made fully aware of its local or micropolitics, and develop strategies to deal with change before it occurs, not after it has taken place.     

糖皮质激素在川崎病治疗中作用的循证医学研究

目的 通过循证医学方法研究肾上腺皮质激素在川崎病治疗中的作用.方法 采用循证医学方法,检索国内外5种大型专业数据库,筛选出随机或半随机对照研究的文献,再人工筛查确定适宜文献.通过Meta分析,比较激素与丙种球蛋白治疗川崎病在退热时间和冠状动脉病变发生率方面的差异.结果 初筛得到443篇文献.经过人工检索,8篇文献符合要求而被纳入标准.其中,3篇文献共有49例川崎病患儿接受甲基强的松龙治疗,5篇文献共有406例患儿接受强的松治疗.对照组共有33例接受静脉丙种球蛋白治疗,435例接受阿司匹林治疗.各组间患儿性别、年龄、病程差异无显著意义.①甲基强的松龙组(3篇文献):24例发生冠状动脉病变,对照组18例发生,两组病变发生率差异无显著意义.在退热方面,1篇文献显示甲基强的松龙组发热时间明显较丙种球蛋白组缩短,差异有显著意义;2篇文献显示差异无显著意义.②强的松组(8篇文献):28例发生冠状动脉瘤,阿司匹林对照组11例发生,3篇文献提示强的松组冠状动脉瘤发生率明显高于对照组.强的松组76例发生冠状动脉扩张,对照组75例发生,3篇文献提示强的松组冠状动脉扩张发生率明显高于对照组,2篇文献提示强的松组冠状动脉扩张发生率略低于对照组,但差异无显著意义.结论 目前的研究资料显示,激素治疗与丙种球蛋白治疗川崎病在冠状动脉病变发生率方面尚无差异或增高.在缩短热程上两者差异也不显著.尚可进一步通过更大数量病例的随机对照研究来证实本结果.目前治疗川崎病不主张单独应用激素.     

EFNS Guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of brain metastases: report of an EFNS Task Force

The objectives have been to establish evidence-based guidelines and identify controversies regarding the management of patients with brain metastases. The collection of scientific data was obtained by consulting the Cochrane Library, bibliographic databases, overview papers and previous guidelines from scientific societies and organizations. A tissue diagnosis is necessary when the primary tumor is unknown or the aspect on computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging is atypical. Dexamethasone is the corticosteroid of choice for cerebral edema. Anticonvulsants should not be prescribed prophylactically. Surgery should be considered in patients with up to three brain metastases, being effective in prolonging survival when the systemic disease is absent/controlled and the performance status is high. Stereotactic radiosurgery should be considered in patients with metastases of 3–3.5 cm of maximum diameter. Whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) after surgery or radiosurgery is debated: in case of absent/controlled systemic cancer and Karnofsky Performance score of 70 or more, one can either withhold initial WBRT or deliver early WBRT with conventional fractionation to avoid late neurotoxicity. WBRT alone is the treatment of choice for patients with single or multiple brain metastases not amenable to surgery or radiosurgery. Chemotherapy may be the initial treatment for patients with brain metastases from chemosensitive tumors.     

乳腺癌术后双肺及骨转移

疾病的正确诊断和合理治疗是患者和医务工作者共同的心愿。在广东省人民医院肿瘤中心，吴一龙教授指导临床医生应用循证医学理论进行肿瘤的多学科综合治疗，开展临床病例讨论。讨论会上各学科共同围绕一个病例或一个病种进行会诊，临床、病理、B超、放射影像等资料齐全。除相关科室提前准备的中心性发言外，到会人员各抒己见，气氛热烈。参会人员受益匪浅，提高了对疑难病例的诊治水平。为了将他们的诊治经验传播出去，让更多的临床医生获益，我刊开辟“循证病例讨论”栏目，希望广大医务工作者关注此栏目。[编者按]     

变应性鼻炎、哮喘患者血白细胞介素的循证医学研究

目的 评价变应性鼻炎、哮喘患者血清中白细胞介素IL-4、IL-6、IL-8检测指标的意义。方法 检索策略:通过中国生物医学文献数据库(CBMdisc)、中文全文数据库全面检索国内已发表的相关文献。选择标准:中国成人变应性鼻炎、哮喘患者与对照组血清白细胞介素IL-4、IL-6、IL-8水平检测。资料收集和分析:由2位评价者按照上述检索策略收集文献。排除那些不符合选择标准要求的试验。结果 经Meta分析,发作期、缓解期变应性鼻炎患者血清中IL-4水平分别较对照组上升129.45 ng/mL(95％CI 124.95～133.96)、35.00 ng/mL(95％CI 32.01～39.78),有显著统计学意义(P<0.000 01):缓解期IL-6水平较对照组上升21.87 ng/mL(95％CI 19.83～23.91),有显著统计学意义(P<0.000 01);发作期、缓解期IL-8水平分别较对照组上升41.75 ng/mL(95％CI 29.14-54.36)、98.94 ng/mL(95％CI 96.48-101.41),有显著统计学意义(P<0.000 01);发作期IL-4水平较缓解期上升129.99 ng/mL(95％CI 125.00～134.99),有显著统计学意义(P<0.000 01)。结论 IL-4、IL-6和IL-8参与了变应性鼻炎、哮喘的发生和促进了变态反应性疾病的发展,有必要开展更广泛研究和更深层的原因探索。     

Evidence-based medicine, medical decision analysis, and pathology

Recent advances in molecular pathology and other technologies such as proteomics present pathologists with the challenge of integrating the new information generated with high-throughput methods with current diagnostic models based mostly on histopathology and clinicopathologic correlations. Parallel developments in the field of medical informatics and bioinformatics provide the technical and mathematical methods to approach these problems in a rational manner. However, it remains unclear whether pathologists or other medical specialists will become primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of these multivariate and multidisciplinary diagnostic and prognostic models that are hoped to provide more accurate, individualized patient-based information. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) and medical decision analysis (MDA) are relatively new disciplines that use quantitative methods to assess the value of information, differentiate fact from myth, and integrate so-called best evidence into multivariate models for the assessment of prognosis, response to therapy, selection of laboratory tests, and other complex problems that influence individual patient care. We review from an epistemological viewpoint the current approach to information in pathology and describe some of the concepts developed by the practitioners of EBM and MDA.