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Abstract
This fourth issue of Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management is important as it
marks the completion of volume one of the Journal. This issue contains some excellent
and diverse original research papers and comprehensive review articles from leading
authors around the world. The first review focuses on the use of oxaliplatin, an effective
and widely used treatment for colorectal cancer, one of the most common and serious
malignant diseases world-wide. However, oxaliplatin use is associated with peripheral
neuropathy. It is timely, therefore, that this review considers the options for the
management and treatment of neurotoxicity caused by oxaliplatin treatment. In the
second review, Jost and Marsalek assess the current evidence on the benefits of duloxetine,
a new drug for the management of stress urinary incontinence (SUI), a potentially
distressing condition that affects a significant proportion of predominantly older
women. Although conservative treatment can be effective for some patients, adjunct
pharmacological therapy may be required for others and, as the authors point out,
is advocated by the International Consultation on Incontinence. In this respect, their
review suggests that duloxetine may prove a useful additional therapy for the management
of SUI.
The next review assesses the efficacy of a new antihistamine, levocetirizine, as an
effective long-term therapy for allergic rhinitis and how its use relates to the Allergic
Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) classification. Shaw and colleagues then
take a detailed look at tools that can be used to help prevent exacerbations of symptoms
in patients with asthma such as induced sputum and exhaled nitric oxide. This is an
important topic as such exacerbations are common, costly, and very distressing for
the patient. Next is a substantial review covering opioid receptors and their role
in analgesia. Improving our understanding of endogenous opioid mechanisms might provide
valuable insight towards the development of novel treatments for pain with concomitant
improvements in side effect profiles.
Fungal nail disease is a common condition for which a number of oral treatments are
available and Elewski and Tavakkol's review of the most efficacious medications is
useful and timely. Our last article is an opinion piece from Maillard assessing the
usage and activity of biocides in the healthcare environment in the UK, particularly
in relation to bacterial resistance to these agents. This nicely complements the first
original research paper in this issue, which reports interesting findings on a staff-led
behavioral management approach for improving quality care practices in a UK intensive
care unit (ICU). This study particularly emphasizes practices aimed at reducing hospital-acquired
infections and thereby increasing the effective capacity of the ICU. The other original
research paper by Chen and colleagues addresses the issue of prescribing errors and
other problems reported by community pharmacists in the UK. Although the incidences
of such errors are low, they remain an important cause for concern and warrant on-going
study.
Author and article information
Journal
Journal ID (nlm-ta): Ther Clin Risk Manag
Journal ID (publisher-id): Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management
Title:
Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management
Publisher:
Dove Medical Press
ISSN
(Print):
1176-6336
ISSN
(Electronic):
1178-203X
Publication date
(Print):
December
2005
Publication date
(Electronic):
December
2005
Volume: 1
Issue: 4
Page: 247
Affiliations
Asthmatic and Allergic Inflammation Group, School of Medicine University of Aberdeen UK