Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2011

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by chronic lung and sinus disease, impaired mucociliary clearance (leading to recurrent pulmonary infection), pancreatic insufficiency, elevated sweat chloride levels and male infertility. Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a cAMP-regulated chloride channel in the plasma membrane of epithelial cells lining the lung, pancreas, Read More

Lipoprotein-associated Phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is an enzyme that belongs to the A2 Phospholipase superfamily and is produced by inflammatory cells that are involved in the process of atherogenesis. Even though there is controversy in current bibliography whether Lp-PLA2 exerts proatherogenic or anti-atherogenic properties, the weight of evidence suggests a pro-atherogenic role for this protein. Lp-PLA2 is Read More

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic arthritis affecting growing numbers of the ageing population. Patients diagnosed with OA place a large burden on access to healthcare services, including primary care, prescription of analgesic drugs, physiotherapy and joint replacement surgery. Not all patients diagnosed with OA will require joint replacement surgery, and therefore avenues for non-surgical treatment for such patients need be e Read More

Surgery remains the mainstay of melanoma therapy at all sites. Melanoma is widely believed to be a radioresistant tumor, a misconception that has historically led to the limited use of RT for its treatment. We searched pubmed from 1978 until 2010 by means of prospective randomized trials. The aim was to assess the potential impact of radiotherapy (RT) on local control, quality of life and overall survival. Radiotherapy should Read More

An incomplete inhibition of the renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) may be responsible for the residual organ damage and event rate that still occur in spite of an apparent blood pressure control in patients with hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and heart failure treated with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). Additional antiproteinuric effect in diabetic Read More

As coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of death in the world, the development of anticoagulants to prevent CAD progressing to myocardial infarction and death is a high priority. A number of direct Factor Xa (FXa) inhibitors are being developed for use in CAD. Despite being developed to the stage of Phase II clinical trials, DX- 9065a is no longer a priority with its developing company for further development, Read More

Meta-analytic reviews of Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT) have reached contradictory conclusions regarding the benefit of medical interventions in Advanced Colorectal Cancer (ACRC). Surrogate markers of survival benefit, such as response rate (RR) and progression free-survival (PFS) often show contradictory and highly variable correlations [1-6]. These contradictions can be due to differences in 1) the studies analysed (sour Read More

As a result of widespread serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and prostate cancer awareness, the detection of low-grade prostate cancer has increased. At the moment, it is unclear how to treat patients in this population. Thus, we focused on reviewing therapies for patients in this low risk group. The purpose of this review paper is to present the status of emerging therapies of cryotherapy and high-intensity foc Read More

Tolvaptan is a new agent in the treatment of normovolemic and hypervolemic hyponatremia. It is a V2 receptor antagonist inducing free water diuresis. It has been recently approved in USA and Europe for the treatment of hyponatremia associated with SIADH, cirrhosis as well as heart failure, while in hypovolemic hyponatremia its use is contraindicated. The drug also appears to be effective in the acute exacerbations o Read More