Cochrane

What is the issue? Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for most patients with end-stage kidney disease. Strategies to increase donor organ availability and to prolong the transplanted kidney's survival have become priorities in kidney transplantation. About 10% to 35% of all kidney transplant recipients will experience one episode of ...

Review question What are the effects of occupational therapy for adults with stroke on activities of daily living? Background Different parts of the brain carry out different functions: seeing, sensation, balance, movement, understanding language, behaviour, problem solving, and emotion. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is ...

Review question: How does saline irrigation or saline irrigation with prior hyaluronidase compare with no intervention or normal wound care for improving tissue healing in neonates with extravasation injury? Background: Preterm and sick term infants requiring intravenous fluids and medications are vulnerable to tissue injury secondary to extravasation, ...

Review question This review aimed to assess whether felbamate has an impact on people with refractory partial-onset epilepsy when used with other antiepileptic drugs. Background Up to 30% people with epilepsy still suffer epileptic seizures despite the use of multiple treatments. Felbamate is a second-generation antiepileptic drug. However, it is ...

Background Despite many antiepileptic drugs being available, about 30% of epilepsy patients are not seizure-free. Electrical stimulation through implanted electrodes in contact with the brain (i.e. intracranial electrical stimulation, referring to 'deep brain stimulation' and 'cortical brain stimulation') has been proposed as an alternative treatment ...

What is lymphocytic colitis? Lymphocytic colitis is a type of microscopic colitis, a condition characterized by chronic non-bloody watery diarrhea. People with lymphocytic colitis have a normal appearing bowel when assessed by an endoscope (a camera used to look at the bowel) or an X-ray; but have microscopic (histological) inflammation of the bowel ...

Why is this question important? When people have a severe attack of COPD, their breathing becomes very difficult. This can turn into breathing failure (acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF)) that often requires urgent hospital-based medical care. One of the treatments that may be given is breathing support (intubation and mechanical ventilation). ...

Review question We aimed to establish if Early Supported Discharge (ESD) services can result in a better patient recovery and if they are as acceptable and affordable as usual services. Background Services that try to offer stroke patients an earlier discharge from hospital with rehabilitation provided in the community have been termed Early Supported ...

Review question Could desmopressin (a medicine that can be used to prevent bleeding) reduce the need for blood transfusion when people have surgery? Background Blood loss is common during major surgery. Blood transfusions can replace blood that has been lost. Risks associated with blood transfusion include reactions against the blood, and – particularly ...

What is the aim of this review? The aim of this Cochrane Review was to find out if hearing loss caused by noise at work can be prevented. Cochrane researchers collected and analysed all relevant studies to answer this question. They found 29 studies that studied the effect of preventive measures. Key messages Stricter legislation might reduce noise ...