PubMed HealthSearch

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Drug Therapy”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Drug therapy reviews: drug therapy of status epilepticus.

Drug treatment of status epilepticus is reviewed. Tonic-clonic, focal motor, complex partial and absence status epilepticus are discussed. In managing tonic-clonic status epilepticus one should: (1) maintain vital functions at all times, (2) identify and treat precipitating factors and (3) administer an intravenous loading dose of phenytoin sodium or phenobarbital sodium. Careful use of i.v. diazepam sometimes helps to achieve these objectives. Intravenous phenytoin sodium and phenobarbital sodium provide definitive, long-term control of tonic-clonic seizures but must be administered slowly and require time to reach peak brain concentrations. Intravenous diazepam appears to enter and exit from the brain rapidly and may control seizures while therapeutic brain concentrations of long-acting drugs are being achieved. Phenytoin, phenobarbital and diazepam should not be administered intramuscularly in treating status epilepticus. Treatment of focal motor and complex partial status epilepticus is similar to that of tonic-clonic status epilepticus, but i.v. diazepam is required less frequently and loading doses of phenytoin and phenobarbital sometimes can be given more slowly. Status epilepticus of the absence type is managed with i.v. acetazolamide sodium or diazepam. Paraldehyde, muscle relaxants, general anesthesia and lidocaine may be tried when conventional therapies fail.

Anesthesia, General

Can postmarketing surveillance help to effect optimal drug therapy?

Postmarketing drug surveillance (PMS) assesses the epidemiology of drug use and monitors beneficial or harmful effects of drugs following marketing. If used systematically, PMS can substantially improve drug therapy in the United States. This can be accomplished by generating information on drug use and effects otherwise unavailable, by enabling a more efficient drug approval process, and by educating drug prescribers. However, to be successful, any PMS system will need a good deal of input from such prescribers.

Animals

[Therapy resisting pains. Drug therapy of cancer pain].

A pain may seem to resist all kinds of therapy without necessarily being absolutely refractory to treatment. The factors are discussed which may contribute to the "refractoriness" of a pain to therapy in the area of pain due to carcinoma, i.e. lack of understanding of modern pain concepts, inability to diagnose pain as due to conversion, failure to recognize the influence of the affects anxiety, hopelessness etc. on pain intensity, administration of analgesics in situations where another form of therapy would be indicated, e.g. plexus blockade, and insufficient knowledge of the effects, side effects, dosage and timing of the administration of mild analgesics, neuroleptics, antidepressives and narcotics.

Analgesics

Liver injury and multiple drug therapy.

Analysis of the drugs used at the time of hepatic injury was carried out in a group of patients consecutively admitted to medical wards during a 10 years period (1965-1975). One drug was the possible cause in 26% of the patients and 74% of them were treated with multiple drug therapy. The most common drugs associated with liver damage have been sulphonamides, oral contraceptives, nitrofurantoin, methyldopa and phenothiazine derivatives.

Adult

Post-traumatic psychoneurosis: evaluation of drug therapy.

This study evaluates the results of drug therapy and psychotherapy in post-traumatic psychoneurosis. The study was undertaken because of the frequent need to estimate the costs of treatment since the illness may at times be the result of a compensable injury. Patients with this illness are frequently parties in litigation. Over the past twelve years, fifty patients that had been diagnosed as having Post-Traumatic Psychoneurosis were treated. In order to attempt to evaluate the effects of treatment the patients were selected alternately for therapy with psychotherapy or with drug therapy. The results of therapies are compared and evaluated.

Amitriptyline

Recent advances in drug therapy for epilepsy.

Recent advances in drug therapy for epilepsy have contributed to the reduction in the proportion of persons whose epilepsy is uncontrolled. New knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of phenytoin has led to a better understanding of the drug's bioavailability and uses. Carbamazepine has recently been introduced for the treatment of generalized tonic-clonic and partial seizures. Clonazepam has been found of particular benefit in the treatment of absence and myoclonic seizures. Valproic acid is a promising antiepileptic drug with broad-spectrum activity, and is particularly useful in the treatment of absence and myoclonic seizures, although further clinical experience is required before it can supplant ethosuximide as the preferred drug for the treatment of absence seizures. Monitoring of the plasma concentration of antiepileptic drugs has added greatly to the achievement of optimal drug therapy and the prevention of toxic effects.

Anticonvulsants

Combination drug therapy in psychopharmacology.

The frequency with which a psychotropic agent is used in combination with another drug preparation is emphasized. The authors present an update of the clinical and theoretical knowledge bearing on combination drug therapy in psychopharmacology. Drug combination interactions that enhance clinical efficacy and those that either diminish it or even endanger the patient are described. The authors hope to create an awareness on the part of physicians of the importance of being knowledgeable in the area of combination drug therapy. Any unexpected or unusual drug action should be examined for the possibility of a drug combination interaction.

Anti-Anxiety Agents

Drug therapy in children.

Foolproof guidelines and rules for the administration of drug therapy to children are not available. In particular, the use of weight, height, and age as the basis for drug dose calculations can lead to serious errors in dosage. Extreme care must be used in the treatment of pregnant women as most drugs cross the placenta. The potential effects of a drug on the fetus must be weighed against the need for the drug in the mother.Special attention must be given to the lactating or breast-feeding mother since most drugs are excreted in breast milk and potentially can adversely affect the nursing infant. Where possible, drug therapy in children should be avoided. If drugs are specifically indicated, the dosage should be calculated after considerable scrutiny of the total management and the goals of the management regimen. Careful followup of every child on even the simplest drug is mandatory.

Adult

Drug therapy in colonial and revolutionary America.

Drug therapy during the Colonial and Revolutionary War period in America is discussed. Therapy in the 17th and 18th centuries remained largely symptomatic rather than curative. Treatment included such "depletion" measures as purging, sweating, bleeding, blistering and vomiting. Purgatives, emetics, opium, cinchona bark, camphor, potassium nitrate and mercury were among the most widely used drugs. European herbals, dispensatories and textbooks were used in the American colonies, and beginning in the early 18th century, British "patent medicines" were imported. During the Revolutionary War, the supply of drugs from Britain was cut off. The Continental Congress established laboratories and storehouses to serve the needs of the army.

Cinchona