[Reference price system as a potential method for pharmaceutical cost containment]
KALÓ Zoltán, VINCZE Zoltán, LOVAS Kornélia, BODROGI József
SEPTEMBER 20, 2002
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2002;12(09)
KALÓ Zoltán, VINCZE Zoltán, LOVAS Kornélia, BODROGI József
SEPTEMBER 20, 2002
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2002;12(09)
[Reference pricing is one of the potential cost containment methods for pharmaceuticals. Authors describe its main types and the international examples of reference pricing together with technical details of its introduction. Consequences of the system are grouped into 5 categories: pharmaceutical expenditure, other health care expenditure, medical implications, consequences on patients and their health status, and political effects. They propose that reference pricing should be introduced only gradually based upon recommendations by multiprofessional teams. The system should be evidence based which includes clinical effectiveness, safety, compliance and cost-effectiveness. ”Real” active substance based reference pricing is justifiable for broad ranges of pharmaceuticals. General introduction of therapeutic reference pricing in Hungary, however, may result in serious negative consequences.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Influencing the renin-angiotensin system through receptor blockade has become a new therapeutic approach toward the treatment of several morbidities, i.e. hypertension, cardiac failure and diabetic nephropathy. The current paper reviews the importance of diabetic nephropathy, the physiology of the renin-angiotensin system and specific effects of receptor blockade on different organs based on 3 new studies (published last year) using angiotensin-II receptor blockers. The paper gives a summary of the IRMA, IDNT and RENAAL studies, including their clinical and therapeutic significance in general practice as well as in specialized diabetes care. The new therapeutic approach (with an excellent safety profile, and infrequent side effects) could delay the progression or might even prevent the manifestation of diabetic nephropathy not only with lowering blood pressure but with its direct effects on target tissues as well. The angiotensin-II receptor blocking agents might be useful for the treatment of cardiac failure in hypertensive patients.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Alcoholic and drug induced liver diseases, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatitis C and B chronic hepatitis, autoimmune diseases (primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, autoimmune hepatitis) and metabolic disorders (hemochromatosis, Wilson's disease) are the main chronic liver diseases. Authors summarize, based on the latest literature data, the medications of chronic liver diseases, emphasizing the treatment of the everyday practice. Natural and synthetic antioxidants are approved for the treatment of chronic alcoholic liver diseases besides abstinence, with diet of adequate quality and quantity. Nucleoside analogues (lamivudin) are recommended for the first-line therapy of the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. Interferon is presently considered the optimal treatment for only certain patients. Interferon and ribavirin combined therapy is well-established in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Ursodeoxycholic acid is the beneficial treatment option for primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Prednisolon and azathioprine constitute the basic therapy of autoimmune hepatitis. Presumably, in the future, new strategies based on immunosuppressive combinations will play a crucial role. The chelating deferoxamine has less important part in the treatment of hemochromatosis. D-penicillamine still plays principle role in the medication of Wilson's disease.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[During the past decade numerous publications have reported the pathophysiological and clinical value of QT dispersion. Increased QT dispersion was observed to be associated with proarrhythmic drug effects, prediction of mortality in heart failure and risk assessment after acute myocardial infarction. Based on the results of the repolarization process research and other significant clinical studies, the meaning and the usefulness of QT dispersion seems to be challenged. The original concept of portraying QT dispersion as a direct measure of regional heterogeneity of myocardial refractoriness is seriously flawed. At the same time, disproving this concept is not a good reason for stating that QT dispersion does not exist. The measurement of QT dispersion seems to be an approximate expression of repolarization abnormalities and should not be taken as a gold standard for a noninvasive estimate of repolarization abnormalities. However, we presently have no decent and widely available alternative to address repolarization abnormalities in standard 12-lead ECG. The authors present the pathophysiological meaning of QT dispersion, the controversies of automatic and manual methodology and the possible clinical relevances based on the most recent studies.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
Lege Artis Medicinae
[1600 mg/d oral clodronate has been shown to reduce the incidence of skeletal complications significantly in advanced breast cancer cases with lytic bone metastases. Analysis of clinical trials revealed that the adjuvant, prophylactic administration of clodronate possibly decreases the number of non-skeletal metastases and might prolong survival.]
Although vertigo is one of the most common complaints, intracranial malignant tumors rarely cause sudden asymmetry between the tone of the vestibular peripheries masquerading as a peripheral-like disorder. Here we report a case of simultaneous temporal bone infiltrating macro-metastasis and disseminated multi-organ micro-metastases presenting as acute unilateral vestibular syndrome, due to the reawakening of a primary gastric signet ring cell carcinoma. Purpose – Our objective was to identify those pathophysiological steps that may explain the complex process of tumor reawakening, dissemination. The possible causes of vestibular asymmetry were also traced. A 56-year-old male patient’s interdisciplinary medical data had been retrospectively analyzed. Original clinical and pathological results have been collected and thoroughly reevaluated, then new histological staining and immunohistochemistry methods have been added to the diagnostic pool. During the autopsy the cerebrum and cerebellum was edematous. The apex of the left petrous bone was infiltrated and destructed by a tumor mass of 2x2 cm in size. Histological reexamination of the original gastric resection specimen slides revealed focal submucosal tumorous infiltration with a vascular invasion. By immunohistochemistry mainly single infiltrating tumor cells were observed with Cytokeratin 7 and Vimentin positivity and partial loss of E-cadherin staining. The subsequent histological examination of necropsy tissue specimens confirmed the disseminated, multi-organ microscopic tumorous invasion. Discussion – It has been recently reported that the expression of Vimentin and the loss of E-cadherin is significantly associated with advanced stage, lymph node metastasis, vascular and neural invasion and undifferentiated type with p<0.05 significance. As our patient was middle aged and had no immune-deficiency, the promoting factor of the reawakening of the primary GC malignant disease after a 9-year-long period of dormancy remained undiscovered. The organ-specific tropism explained by the “seed and soil” theory was unexpected, due to rare occurrence of gastric cancer to metastasize in the meninges given that only a minority of these cells would be capable of crossing the blood brain barrier. Patients with past malignancies and new onset of neurological symptoms should alert the physician to central nervous system involvement, and the appropriate, targeted diagnostic and therapeutic work-up should be established immediately. Targeted staining with specific antibodies is recommended. Recent studies on cell lines indicate that metformin strongly inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition of gastric cancer cells. Therefore, further studies need to be performed on cases positive for epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Clinical Neuroscience
Far lateral lumbar disc herniations (FLDH) consist approximately 0.7-12% of all lumbar disc herniations. Compared to the more common central and paramedian lumbar disc herniations, they cause more severe and persistent radicular pain due to direct compression of the nerve root and dorsal root ganglion. In patients who do not respond to conservative treatments such as medical treatment and physical therapy, and have not developed neurological deficits, it is difficult to decide on surgical treatment because of the nerve root damage and spinal instability risk due to disruption of facet joint integrity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) on the improvement of both pain control and functional capacity in patients with FLDH. A total of 37 patients who had radicular pain caused by far lateral disc herniation which is visible in their lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, had no neurological deficit and did not respond to conservative treatment, were included the study. TFESI was applied to patients by preganglionic approach. Pre-treatment Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores of the patients were compared with the 3rd week, 3rd month and 6th month scores after the procedure. The mean initial VAS score was 8.63 ± 0.55, while it was 3.84 ± 1.66, 5.09 ± 0.85, 4.56 ± 1.66 at the 3rd week, 3rd month and 6th month controls, respectively. This decrease in the VAS score was found statistically significant (p = 0.001). ODI score with baseline mean value of 52.38 ± 6.84 was found to be 18.56 ± 4.95 at the 3rd week, 37.41 ± 14.1 at the 3rd month and 34.88 ± 14.33 at the 6th month. This downtrend of patient’s ODI scores was found statistically significant (p = 0.001). This study has demonstrated that TFESI is an effective method for gaining increased functional capacity and pain control in the treatment of patients who are not suitable for surgical treatment with radicular complaints due to far lateral lumbar disc hernia.
Clinical Neuroscience
Microdiscectomy (MD) is a standard technique for the surgical treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Uniportal percutaneous full-endoscopic interlaminar lumbar discectomy (PELD) is another surgical option that has become popular owing to reports of shorter hospitalization and earlier functional recovery. There are very few articles analyzing the total costs of these two techniques. The purpose of this study was to compare total hospital costs among microdiscectomy (MD) and uniportal percutaneous full-endoscopic interlaminar lumbar discectomy (PELD). Forty patients aged between 22-70 years who underwent PELD or MD with different anesthesia techniques were divided into four groups: (i) PELD-local anesthesia (PELD-Local) (n=10), (ii) PELD-general anesthesia (PELD-General) (n=10), (iii) MD-spinal anesthesia (MD-Spinal) (n=10), (iv) MD-general anesthesia (MD-General) (n=10). Health care costs were defined as the sum of direct costs. Data were then analyzed based on anesthetic modality to produce a direct cost evaluation. Direct costs were compared statistically between MD and PELD groups. The sum of total costs was $1,249.50 in the PELD-Local group, $1,741.50 in the PELD-General group, $2,015.60 in the MD-Spinal group, and $2,348.70 in the MD-General group. The sum of total costs was higher in the MD-Spinal and MD-General groups than in the PELD-Local and PELD-General groups. The costs of surgical operation, surgical equipment, anesthesia (anesthetist’s costs), hospital stay, anesthetic drugs and materials, laboratory workup, nursing care, and postoperative medication differed significantly among the two main groups (PELD-MD) (p<0.01). This study demonstrated that PELD is less costly than MD.
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Hungarian professional periodicals started quite late in European context. Their publishing, editing and editorial philosophy were equally influenced by specific historical and political situations. Certain breaking points of history resulted in termination of professional journals (War of Independence 1848-1849, First and Second World Wars), however there were periods, which instigated the progress of sciences and founding of new scientific journals. Both trends were apparent in years after the fall of former Hungarian regime in 1990. The structure of book and journal publishing has changed substantially, some publishers fell “victim” others started successfully as well. The latters include the then-established publishing house Literatura Medica and its own scientific journal, Lege Artis Medicinae (according to its subtitle: New Hungarian Medical Herald) issued first in 1990. Its appearance enhanced significantly the medical press market. Its scientific publications compete with articles of the well-established domestic medical journals however its philosophy set brand-new trends on the market. Concerning the medical community, it takes on its problems and provides a forum for them. These problems are emerging questions in health care, economy and prevention, in close interrelation with system of public health institutions, infrastructure and situation of those providing individual health services. In all of them, Lege Artis Medicinae follows consequently the ideas of traditional social medicine.]
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