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Biomedical subjects

Kay Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to Kay Thomas.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Acute urinary retention: what is the impact on patients' quality of life?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of admission for acute urinary retention (AUR) on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) compared with that on admission for elective surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and emergency admission for renal colic (RC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Over a 2-year period, three groups of men were recruited from one institution: group 1, men aged >50 years presenting to the accident and emergency (A&E) department with AUR; group 2, for comparison, men aged >50 years admitted for elective surgery for BPH; and group 3, men aged >40 years presenting to A&E with RC. A self-completed HRQoL questionnaire was administered at five visits (72 h from admission, and 1, 2, 3 and 6 months afterward) over a 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: Group 1 reported mean pain scores on admission of 7.7, compared with 5.6 for group 2 and 8.3 for group 3. Patients in group 1 had the most investigations and recurrent attendance to A&E throughout the study, compared with almost none for the other two groups. There was a substantial economic burden for group 1; 15% had extra help at home at a mean cost of 403 UK pounds for the duration of the study. For the other domains assessed (e.g. emotions, mental state, general health) groups 1 and 2 were similar. CONCLUSIONS: An episode of AUR has a measurable impact on patients' HRQoL, which often occurs in the community and therefore may not be appreciated by the urology team providing their care. Further work is therefore required to improve the "patient journey" for those with AUR, and to prevent patients developing AUR in the future.

Absenteeism↗

Pulsed dye laser and non-ablative wrinkle reduction.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Non-ablative wrinkle reduction is currently an issue, which is being widely discussed in the literature and at academic meetings worldwide. We present the findings of our randomized within patient controlled clinical trial into periorbital wrinkle reduction with a 595 nm pulsed dye laser. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six volunteers, 25 female and 1 male were enrolled into our study. The study was set up as a randomized within patient controlled clinical trial. Subjects received one treatment to the periorbital wrinkles around one eye, using the other as the control. They were then observed at 3 and 6 months post treatment. They then received three treatments spaced 4 weeks apart and were again observed at 3 and 6 months. The author and one blinded assessor reviewed them independently. At the end of the trial a panel of three blinded assessors scored photographs of the subjects independently. The Fitzpatrick wrinkle score was used to score the subjects. All data was subjected to statistical analysis using non-parametric t-tests. RESULTS: Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in the wrinkle scores of the patients upon completion of the trial protocols. CONCLUSIONS: The 595 nm pulsed dye laser set at 0.5 millisecond pulse width is not an effective means of achieving sub-purpuric non-ablative periorbital wrinkle reduction.

Adult↗