The effect of oxandrolone on the healing of chronic pressure ulcers in persons with spinal cord injury: a randomized trial.

Background: Anabolic steroids have been reported to improve wound healing.

Objective: To determine whether oxandrolone increases the percentage of target pressure ulcers (TPUs) that heal compared with placebo and whether healed ulcers remain closed 8 weeks after treatment.

Design: Parallel-group, placebo-controlled, randomized trial conducted from 1 August 2005 to 30 November 2008.

A 24-hour feasibility study of intraurethral valved catheter for bladder management in males with spinal cord injury.

This feasibility study was conducted to evaluate design features of the novel intraurethral valved catheter, Surinate (Urovalve, Inc; Newark, New Jersey). The device extends from the bladder neck to just beyond the external sphincter and contains a valve that can be activated by an external magnet for bladder emptying. Five patients were recruited from the Edward Hines Jr Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital spinal cord injury population.

Colchicine treatment of alcoholic cirrhosis: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of patient survival.

Background & Aims: Colchicine improved survival and reversed cirrhosis in several small clinical trials. We compared the efficacy and safety of long-term colchicine, as compared with placebo, in patients with advanced alcoholic cirrhosis.

Methods: Five hundred forty-nine patients with advanced (Pugh B or C) alcoholic cirrhosis were randomized to receive either colchicine 0.

Controlling antimicrobial use and decreasing microbiological laboratory tests for urinary tract infections in spinal-cord-injury patients with chronic indwelling catheters.

Purpose: The effect of replacing the indwelling catheter of patients suspected of having a urinary tract infection (UTI) before collecting a urine sample on the number of organisms isolated in cultures and on drug and microbiology laboratory costs was studied.

Methods: Data were collected for all patients hospitalized in two spinal cord injury (SCI) units between October 2001 and March 2002 who had an indwelling catheter or suprapubic catheter and were suspected of having a UTI. Urine samples were obtained through a port of the indwelling catheter in one SCI unit, while the indwelling catheter was replaced immediately before each urine sample was obtained in the second SCI unit.

Asthmatics with gastroesophageal reflux: long term results of a randomized trial of medical and surgical antireflux therapies.

Objective: In short term studies, asthma symptoms and pulmonary function have been reported to improve during and after medical treatment or surgical correction of gastroesophageal reflux (GER). In this study, we aimed to determine whether prolonged treatment of GER altered the long term natural history of asthma in asthmatics with GER.

Methods: A total of 62 patients with both GER and asthma entered a randomized study of antireflux treatments for at least 2 yr: 24 controls (antacids as needed); 22 medical (ranitidine 150 mg t.

Circadian variation in oxidative stress markers in healthy and type II diabetic men.

Seven clinically healthy, nondiabetic (ND) and four Type II diabetic (D) men were assessed for circadian rhythms in oxidative "stress markers." Blood samples were collected at 3h intervals for approximately 27 h beginning at 19:00h. Urine samples were collected every 3 h beginning with the 16:00h-19:00h sample.

A database of self-reported secondary medical problems among VA spinal cord injury patients: its role in clinical care and management.

An interactive data management (IDM) system for the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Service was developed to collect self-reported patient data related to secondary medical complications and to provide feedback to the SCI rehabilitation team. The long-term objective is to improve clinical care through a process of staff review of current rehabilitation programs in the areas of prevalence, prevention, and management. Based on data from the first 99 SCI patients visiting the clinic and hospital after the installation of the IDM system, SCI patients reported high rates of current problems with spasticity (53 percent), pain (44 percent), and pressure ulcers (38 percent).

Treatment of Spasticity in Spinal Cord Injury with Dronabinol, a Tetrahydrocannabinol Derivative.

Spinal-cord-injured patients and the medical literature have increasingly reported anecdotes regarding tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-induced spasmolysis. These reports motivated this trial of dronabinol, a THC derivative, for the treatment of spasticity in the spinal-cord-injured population. Five made quadriplegic patients were given oral dronabinol in escalating doses from 5 mg BID to 20 mg TID in addition to their current, but ineffective, spasmolytic regime.