Fetal monitoring with computerized ST analysis during labor: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Computerized ST analysis of fetal electrocardiography (ECG) combined with cardiotochography (CTG) has been introduced for intrapartum monitoring and is the prevailing method when ST analysis (STAN®) is used.

Objective: To assess the evidence that computerized ST analysis during labor reduces the incidence of fetal metabolic acidosis, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cesarean section, instrumental vaginal delivery or the number of instances where fetal scalp blood sampling is used as compared with CTG only.

Methods: Search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL and CRD databases.

Similar survival 15 years after coronary artery surgery irrespective of left main stem stenosis.

Objectives: To evaluate 15-year survival after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in relation to grade left main stenosis (LMS) and right coronary artery (RCA) obstruction.

Design: Coronary angiographic findings were prospectively collected in 977 patients who had CABG for stable angina during 1994-1995 and were included in the Swedish Coronary Revascularization - Swedish Council of Technology Assessment study.

Results: Significant LMS was present in one fifth of the patients and significant RCA obstruction was found in 61% of those with LMS and in 68% of patients without LMS.

Induction of labor versus expectant management for post-date pregnancy: is there sufficient evidence for a change in clinical practice?

Objectives: To compare perinatal and maternal outcomes between elective induction of labor versus expectant management of pregnancies at 41 weeks and beyond.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) and PsycINFO (1980 to November, 2007).

A prospective survey of radiotherapy practice 2001 in Sweden.

A prospective survey of radiotherapy practice in Sweden was conducted during 12 weeks in the autumn of 2001. All hospitals that provided radiotherapy participated, and all patients who started radiotherapy during the study period were included. The final patient sample comprised 5,105 treatments given to 4,171 patients.

The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU) systematic overview of radiotherapy for cancer including a prospective survey of radiotherapy practice in Sweden 2001--summary and conclusions.

A systematic assessment of radiotherapy for cancer was conducted by The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU) and published in 1996. The assessment reviewed the scientific literature up to 1993 on the use of radiotherapy in the treatment of solid tumours, and estimated the costs associated with radiotherapy. It also described the current practise of radiotherapy in Sweden 1992 and compared practise with scientific knowledge.

Medium-term survival and quality of life of Swedish octogenarians after open-heart surgery.

Objective: Operative mortality after open-heart interventions in the octogenarian population is relatively well known. Less has been reported on the medium term survival and quality of life of this growing subgroup of patients.

Methods: One hundred and eighty-three consecutive patients aged between 80 and 84 years when they underwent open-heart surgery between January 1995 and June 2000 were retrospectively analysed.

Mechanisms behind operating room blood transfusions in coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients with insignificant bleeding.

Objective: To investigate situations in cardiac surgery when transfusions are sometimes used for indications other than to compensate for surgical bleeding.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Cardiac surgery unit at a university teaching hospital.

Five-year mortality for stable angina in a medical practice study and a randomized trial.

Objective: Evolution of revascularization and medical therapy has increased the probability of improved survival in patients with stable angina. The present investigation tests the hypothesis that medical practice will generate lower mortality than randomly assigned bypass surgery in the European Coronary Surgery Study (ECSS) two decades earlier.

Method: Using eligibility criteria of ECSS, a clinical decision strategy (CDS) cohort of 362 patients was selected from a nationwide study of medical practice in Sweden.

A multicenter randomized controlled trial of injections of sterile water and saline for chronic myofascial pain syndromes.

A randomised controlled trial was used to test the hypothesis that cutaneous injections of sterile water (SWI) have no benefit over saline (PSI) as a method of pain reduction among patients with myofascial pain syndromes. Six general practitioners located at 6 different clinics of general practice treated 117 patients (91 female, 26 male, aged > or = 25 years) with myofascial pain syndrome for at least 3 months in one or both of the upper quadrants of the body. Patients were randomised to receive either SWI or PSI which was administered sub- and intracutaneously on 1 occasion.