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- Stacchiotti, S., et al.
(author)
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Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, an ultra-rare cancer : a consensus paper from the community of experts
- 2021
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In: ESMO Open. - : Elsevier BV. - 2059-7029. ; 6:3
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an ultra-rare, translocated, vascular sarcoma. EHE clinical behavior is variable, ranging from that of a low-grade malignancy to that of a high-grade sarcoma and it is marked by a high propensity for systemic involvement. No active systemic agents are currently approved specifically for EHE, which is typically refractory to the antitumor drugs used in sarcomas. The degree of uncertainty in selecting the most appropriate therapy for EHE patients and the lack of guidelines on the clinical management of the disease make the adoption of new treatments inconsistent across the world, resulting in suboptimal outcomes for many EHE patients. To address the shortcoming, a global consensus meeting was organized in December 2020 under the umbrella of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) involving >80 experts from several disciplines from Europe, North America and Asia, together with a patient representative from the EHE Group, a global, disease-specific patient advocacy group, and Sarcoma Patient EuroNet (SPAEN). The meeting was aimed at defining, by consensus, evidence-based best practices for the optimal approach to primary and metastatic EHE. The consensus achieved during that meeting is the subject of the present publication.
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| 2. |
- Vallo Hult, Helena, 1976-, et al.
(author)
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Egenmonitorering : evidenskartläggning genom sammanställning av systematiska översikter för utvalda diagnosgrupper
- 2023
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- BackgroundIn Region Västra Götaland (VGR), the development of remote patient monitoring is given high priority, aiming for improvements for patients and reduction of healthcare costs. In this report we defined remote patient monitoring as continuous follow-up of relevant health-related parameters of patients located outside healthcare facilities (e.g. at home). Measurements taken by analogue or digital devices, objective and/or subjective assessments, are delivered digitally to the patient and to a healthcare professional. The healthcare professional provides the patient with feedback on the reported data (feedback may be automatically generated if data are within a predefined range). The plan in VGR is to introduce remote monitoring in selected diagnosis groups – some of which already started using remote monitoring.AimThe aim of this report was to provide an overview of systematic reviews regarding remote monitoring(as add on or replacement of visits in current standard of care) compared to standard of care in 25 selected diagnosis groups.MethodIn order to clarify how remote monitoring is intended to be used in the 25 diagnosis groups, representatives from the respective clinical areas were interviewed. As the scope of this project covered many diagnosis groups, the search was limited to systematic reviews (SRs) of randomised (RCTs) or non-randomised clinical trials. The relevance of each identified SR for our PICO(Population, Intervention, Comparator and Outcomes) was assessed by at least two project members (one clinical representative and one from HTA-centrum). Relevant SRs were assessed by at least two project members using SNABBSTAR, a tool developed by The Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU) for assessment of risk of bias/systematic errors in SRs. The tool consists of six steps and assessment of an SR is stopped as soon as the criteria for a specific level are not met.The steps are: 1. Definition of PICO and literature search; 2. Inclusion/exclusion according to PICO, listing of included studies; 3. Risk of bias assessments; 4. Evidence synthesis/meta-analyses; 5. Certainty of evidence consideration; 6. Documentation of excluded studies, conflicts of interest, and an a priori published SR protocol.SNABBSTAR evaluates how useful an SR is by assessing the methodology used in the SR. In the current project, SRs reaching at least SNABBSTAR level 4 were considered to provide relevant data synthesis. As reaching SNABBSTAR level 5 or 6 is considered necessary for reliable conclusions, we cited key conclusions only from SRs reaching these levels. We did not extract any data from the included SRs.ResultsThe literature search resulted in 3,332 hits. Of these, 279 were read in full text to assess their relevance for the PICO. Seventy-five SRs were considered relevant and were included; these were assessed by SNABBSTAR.
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| 3. |
- Guerriero, Giuseppe, et al.
(author)
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Efficacy of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation as treatment for depression: A systematic review
- 2021
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In: Journal of Affective Disorders Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 2666-9153. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) has been suggested as a treatment method for depression. Methods: A systematic review to systematically evaluate the efficacy of tVNS for the treatment of depression was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Primary outcomes were mortality, self-harm, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Secondary outcomes were anxiety symptoms, medication use, everyday functioning, complications, and patients’ experiences of treatment. Five databases were searched systematically. The included articles were critically appraised and certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. Results: Two studies evaluating efficacy and a case series collecting data on complications were included. One randomized trial (n = 37) and one cohort study (n = 160) comparing tVNS with sham-tVNS reported significant reduction in the tVNS group of self-rated (SMD = -0.82, 95%-CI = -1.50, -0.15) but not clinician-rated depressive symptoms, after two weeks, and of both self-rated (SMD = -0.99, 95%-CI = -1.32, -0.66) and clinician-rated (SMD = -0.89, 95%-CI = -1.22, -0.57) depressive symptoms, after four weeks, respectively. Furthermore, the cohort study found reduction of both self-rated (SMD = -0.66, 95%-CI = -0.98, -0.34) and clinician-rated (SMD = -0.14, 95%-CI = -0.46, 0.17) anxiety symptoms. One case series (n = 12), collecting data on complications, reported mild to moderate transient side effects. Limitations: Available studies are few and heterogeneous, have major study limitations, problems with directness and imprecision. Conclusions: It is uncertain whether tVNS reduces depressive symptoms and anxiety. Although existing studies show promising results, further studies are needed to increase the certainty of evidence. © 2021 The Authors
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| 4. |
- Ioannou, Michael, et al.
(author)
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Sleep deprivation as treatment for depression: Systematic review and meta-analysis
- 2021
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In: Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. - : Wiley. - 0001-690X .- 1600-0447. ; 143:1, s. 22-35
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective To systematically review evidence on the efficacy and safety of sleep deprivation (SD) as a treatment option for patients with unipolar or bipolar depression. Methods A systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines was conducted. The certainty of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Controlled trials were included in efficacy analysis, case series for evaluating complications and qualitative studies for patients' experiences. Results Eight controlled studies (368 patients), one qualitative study and seven case series (825 patients) were included. One week after treatment start, SD combined with standard treatment did not reduce depressive symptoms compared with standard treatment (standardized mean difference, SMD = -0.29, [95% confidence interval, CI: -0.84 to 0.25], p = 0.29). When excluding a study in elderly patients in a post hoc analysis, the difference was statistically significant (SMD = -0.54 ([95% CI: -0.86 to -0.22], p < 0.001)) but it diminished two weeks after treatment start. No superiority of SD was found compared with antidepressants, but SD may be superior to exercise in certain settings. It is uncertain whether SD affects quality of sleep, quality of life, everyday functioning or length of stay. Apart from switch to mania (ranging between 2.7% and 10.7%), no other serious complications were reported. Conclusion Sleep deprivation has been studied in a wide range of settings resulting in divergent results for the short-term efficacy on depressive symptoms. Post hoc analyses indicated that there may be a significant but transient effect in certain populations. Further studies should focus on identifying subgroups of responders as well as examining feasibility in routine clinical care.
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| 5. |
- Johnson, Mats, 1956, et al.
(author)
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Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and immunomodulatory treatment in children with symptoms corresponding to the research condition PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome): A systematic review
- 2021
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In: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 16:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective To assess effects of treatment against a hypothesized neuroinflammation in children with symptoms corresponding to the research condition Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) which is not included in current diagnostic systems. Methods Systematic literature searches were performed (1998 to June 2020) in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and HTA databases. Inclusion criteria: patients (P) were children (< 18 years) with PANS; intervention (I)/comparison (C) was use of, versus no use of, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial or immunomodulating treatments; outcomes (O) were health-related quality of life (HRQL), level of functioning, symptom change, and complications. Results Four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and three non-RCTs, including 23 to 98 patients, fulfilled the PICO. HRQL was not investigated in any study. Regarding level of functioning, two RCTs investigated antibiotics (penicillin V, azithromycin) and one RCT investigated immunomodulating treatments (intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), plasma exchange). Regarding symptoms, two non-RCTs investigated anti-inflammatory treatment (cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors, corticosteroids), two RCTs and one non-RCT investigated antibiotics (penicillin V, azithromycin), and two RCTs investigated immunomodulating treatments (IVIG, plasma exchange). Complications, reported in five studies, were consistent with those listed in the summary of products characteristics (SPC). All studies were assessed to have some or major problems regarding directness, the absence of an established diagnosis contributing to clinical diversity in the studied populations. All studies were assessed to have major risk of bias, including selection and detection biases. Due to clinical and methodological diversity, meta-analyses were not performed. Conclusion This systematic review reveals very low certainty of evidence of beneficial effects, and moderate certainty of evidence of adverse effects, of anti-inflammatory, antibacterial or immunomodulating treatments in patients with symptoms corresponding to the research condition PANS. Available evidence neither supports nor excludes potential beneficial effects, but supports that such treatment can result in adverse effects.
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