ANALIZE MEDICALE DE LABORATOR
Aici gasiti analizele medicale grupate pe categorii precum si detalii generale si specifice pentru categoriile respective.
Selectati o categorie din lista de mai jos:
Solutie antistress!
Construieste poduri :)
Prinde pisica neagra :)
Steroids increase death risk from traumatic head injury
The common use of anti-inflammatory steroids for traumatic head injuries like those from car crashes may actually
increase the risk of death, according to a new review of studies about the treatment.1
A previous review found there was not enough evidence to recommend that routine use of steroids be stopped. This newer
analysis published by the British-based Cochrane Library draws heavily from a recent study of corticosteroid treatment for
brain injury, including coma and concussion, that included 10,008 patients, more than all similar studies combined.
The large study found that patients treated with corticosteroids were 18 percent more likely to die from their brain injury
than those who did not take the drugs. Among the patients who received steroid treatment, 21 percent ,or 1,052 of the 4,985
treated, died, compared to 18 percent who received a placebo.
"The significant increase in death with steroids found in this trial suggests that steroids should no longer be routinely
used in people with traumatic head injury," says Dr. Phil Alderson, lead author of the Cochrane study.
The review appears in the January issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an
international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical
practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory hormones used to treat all kinds of inflammation, from joint injury to asthma. They
differ from anabolic steroids, the sex hormones like androgen, which are typically used to increase muscle mass and improve
athletic performance.
Corticosteroids are "widely used in medicine to treat inflammation," Alderson explains. "It is thought that some of the
damage after a brain injury results from inflammation following the initial injury and that reducing inflammation might
reduce this secondary injury."
In the case of severe head injuries, the inflammation leads to swelling of the brain and its surrounding tissues, which in
turns creates pressure in the skull that may lead to complications or death.
The 17 studies on steroid use and the risk of death examined by Alderson and colleagues included a total of 12,083 patients
of all ages with clinically diagnosed traumatic brain injury, some of whom received steroid treatment within seven days of
their injury.
The cause of death in patients who received steroid treatment in the new large trial was unclear, according the study's
authors. Some researchers have suggested that corticosteroids increase the likelihood of death by interfering with adrenal
gland function.
Steroid use did not reduce the risks of infection among these patients, the authors concluded. Gastrointestinal bleeding
complications did not seem to increase or decrease with steroid treatment.
Not all physicians routinely prescribe corticosteroids, Alderson says, but he notes that use of the drugs "was quite
widespread," when The Cochrane Collaboration first reviewed the treatment in 1997.
A 2000 survey of brain trauma treatment centers in the United States found that one-third of those centers still use
corticosteroids routinely, according Jamshid Ghajar, president of The Brain Trauma Foundation, which conducted the survey.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million American suffer traumatic brain injuries a
year, and 50,000 die from it.
"Since this often occurs in young people and is long term, traumatic brain injury-related disability is a major cause of ill
health worldwide," Alderson says.
by Becky Ham, Science Writer Health Behavior News Service
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Health Behavior News Service: 202-387-2829 or http://www.hbns.org.
Interviews: Contact Phil Alderson, 44-1865-516-300 or palderson@cochrane.co.uk
1. Alderson et al. Corticosteriods for acute traumatic brain injury. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue
1
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic
reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of
interventions. Visit http://www.cochrane.org for more information.
Contact: Phil Alderson - palderson@cochrane.co.uk
Center for the Advancement of Health
Steroizi creºte riscul de deces din cap traumatice prejudiciu - Steroids increase death risk from traumatic head injury - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate