[Thyroid medicine for ENT physicians]. / Schilddrüsenmedizin für HNO­Ärzte.

Diseases of the thyroid gland are frequent incidental findings during ultrasound examination of the neck. They affect nearly one third of the normal population. Treatment is not always indicated; however, laboratory diagnostic measures must be initiated to specify the disease. The primary indications for consulting a thyroid specialist are thyroid nodules, goiters, autonomy of the thyroid gland, autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, and Hashimoto thyroiditis. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the most important thyroid diseases and their treatment options.

[Delegation of medical activities in acute pain therapy]. / Delegation ärztlicher Tätigkeiten in der Akutschmerztherapie.

Acute pain management is an interprofessional and interdisciplinary task and requires a good and trustful cooperation between stakeholders. Despite provisions in Germany according to which medical treatment can only be rendered by a formally qualified physician ("Arztvorbehalt"), a physician does not have to carry out every medical activity in person. Under certain conditions, some medical activities can be delegated to medical auxiliary personnel but they need to be (1) instructed, (2) supervised and (3) checked by the physician himself; however, medical history, diagnostic assessment and evaluation, indications, therapy planning (e.g. selection, dosage), therapeutic decisions (e. g. modification or termination of therapy) and obtaining informed consent cannot be delegated. With respect to drug therapy, monitoring of the therapy remains the personal responsibility of the physician, while the actual application of medication can be delegated. From a legal perspective, the current practice needs to be stressed about what is within the mandatory requirements and what is not when medical activities are delegated to non-medical staff. The use of standards of care improves treatment quality but like any medical treatment it must be based on the physician's individual assessment and indications for each patient and requires personal contact between physician and patient. Delegation on the ward and in acute pain therapy requires the authorization of the delegator to give instructions in the respective setting. The transfer of non-delegable duties to non-medical personnel is regarded as medical malpractice.

[Dipyrone (metamizole) : Considerations on monitoring for early detection of agranulocytosis]. / Metamizol : Überlegungen zum Monitoring zur frühzeitigen Diagnose einer Agranulozytose.

BACKGROUND: Dipyrone (metamizole) is a non-opioid analgesic commonly used in Germany, which can, in very rare cases, cause life-threatening agranulocytosis. The prescribing information calls for regular monitoring of the differential blood count in cases of long-term treatment. However, there is uncertainty about how this testing should be handled in practice. OBJECTIVES: Which recommendations can be derived from the published literature for evaluating blood cell counts during treatment with metamizole and which other options for monitoring exist? METHODS: Data from recent epidemiological studies, reviews, and spontaneously reported cases were evaluated. RESULTS: Agranulocytosis can emerge at highly variable intervals ranging from the first day of metamizole treatment to months after treatment has begun. As a result, there is no conclusive, evidence-based recommendation for the time intervals at which blood cell counts should be tested. Therefore, the onset of clinical symptoms should be used as trigger for monitoring blood cell counts to enable early diagnosis and avoid agranulocytosis-related complications. In addition to general symptoms like fever, sore throat, fatigue, and muscle pain, mucosal ulcerations, severe angina, and systemic infections leading to sepsis are typical of agranulocytosis. CONCLUSIONS: Providing patients and medical staff with better information about early symptoms of agranulocytosis could be a sensible way to prevent complications. Any suspicion of agranulocytosis should immediately lead to a differential blood count and to the withdrawal of all drugs possibly associated with agranulocytosis. Patients should be monitored and treated according to the severity of their symptoms.

The efficacy and safety of daptomycin vs. vancomycin for the treatment of cellulitis and erysipelas.

BACKGROUND: Results from previous trials suggest that daptomycin may result in faster clinical improvement than penicillinase-resistant penicillins or vancomycin for patients with complicated skin and skin structure infections. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate whether daptomycin treatment of cellulitis or erysipelas would result in faster resolution compared with vancomycin. DESIGN: The study was a prospective, evaluator-blinded, multi-centre trial. Patients were randomised to receive daptomycin 4 mg/kg once daily or vancomycin according to standard of care for 7-14 days. PATIENTS: Adults diagnosed with cellulitis or erysipelas requiring hospitalisation and intravenous antibiotic therapy were eligible for enrolment. RESULTS: The clinical success rates were 94.0% for daptomycin and 90.2% for vancomycin (95% confidence interval for the difference, -6.7%, 14.3%). There were no statistically significant differences between treatment arms in the time to resolution or improvement in any of the predefined clinical end-points. Both daptomycin and vancomycin were well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in the rate of resolution of cellulitis or erysipelas among patients treated with daptomycin or vancomycin. Daptomycin 4 mg/kg once daily appeared to be effective and safe for treating cellulitis or erysipelas.

[The problems with parallel narcosis. Professional and legal limits of delegation of anaesthesiological responsibilities to non-medical personnel]. / Zur Problematik der Parallelnarkose. Fachliche und rechtliche Grenzen der Delegation anästhesiologischer Leistungen auf nichtärztliches Personal.

The increasing mechanisation, specialisation and sub-specialisation in medicine have enduringly supported the delegation of originally medical activities to non-medical personnel and sometimes also made it necessary. Economical considerations have recently given additional impulse to these developments. It is indisputable that medical activities can be delegated to assistant personnel, however, it is equally indisputable that within the scope of the total spectrum of medical activities, there are limits to the extent of delegation, i.e. activities reserved exclusively for medical doctors. These include, by consensus of opinion, the physical examination, diagnosis, assessment of indication, determination of the therapy plan and informing the patient. The following article justifies from professional and legal viewpoints why anaesthesia also belongs to the genuine medical duties and is reserved exclusively for medical personnel. Therefore, the correct performance of parallel narcosis is coupled with far-reaching liability risks for all participants involved in this form of organisation or those responsible for them.

Semi-automatic generation of medical tele-expert opinion for primary care physician.

OBJECTIVES: A computer-based system has been developed for the generation of medical expert opinions on the insulin-resistance syndrome, based on clinical data obtained from primary care physicians. METHODS: An expert opinion for each patient was generated by using a decision tree for entering individual text modules and by adding optional free text. The expert opinions were returned by e-mail, telefax or by ordinary mail. RESULTS: 1389 primary care physician sent anonymous data sets and requested expert opinions for a total of 3768 patients. Through the set up of a rule-based system an automation of the generation of the expert opinions could be achieved and the generation time dropped from initially 40 minutes to less than 5 minutes at the end. CONCLUSIONS: By using predefined text modules and a rule based system, a large number of medical expert opinions can be generated with relatively few additional resources.

The efficacy of Ginkgo special extract EGb 761 in patients with tinnitus.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study in 60 patients with chronic tinnitus aurium was to confirm the efficacy of oral treatment with 2 x 80 mg Ginkgo special extract EGb 761 per day subsequent to 10-day EGb 761 infusion treatment. METHODS: Patients with chronic tinnitus aurium underwent 10 days of in-patient infusion treatment with 200 mg/day EGb 761, after which they were randomized to double-blind, oral out-patient treatment with either 2 x 80 mg/day EGb 761 or placebo, given over a scheduled treatment period of 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the change in tinnitus volume in the more severely affected ear during randomized treatment. RESULTS: Fifty-two of 60 patients (89.7%) completed the infusion treatment; complete sets of data were available for 40 (66.7%), 30 (50.0%) and 22 (36.7%) patients after 4, 8 and 12 weeks of randomized treatment, respectively. For the primary outcome measure, significant superiority of EGb 761 over placebo was demonstrated in the intention-to-treat analysis data set after 4, 8 and 12 weeks of out-patient treatment (p < 0.05, 1-tailed), although the absolute treatment group difference was moderate. The results were supported by the secondary outcome measures for efficacy (e.g. decreased hearing loss, improved self-assessment of subjective impairment). During out-patient treatment, there were no attributable adverse events under EGb 761. CONCLUSIONS: A combination of infusion therapy followed by oral administration of Ginkgo special extract EGb 761 appears to be effective and safe in alleviating the symptoms associated with tinnitus aurium.

[Surgical treatment of differentiated thyroid gland carcinoma. Technique and morbidity in paratracheal lymph node excision]. / Operative Behandlung des differenzierten Schilddrüsenkarzinoms. Technik und Morbidität der paratrachealen Lymphadenektomie.

BACKGROUND: The extent of cervical lymphadenectomy in treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer is controversial. Technique and results of paratracheal lymphadenectomy are presented to demonstrate safety of cervical lymphadenectomy procedures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 68 Patients with differentiated thyroid cancer underwent total thyroidectomy and extended lymphadenectomy in a standardized technique. The pre- and paratracheal and the lateral lymph node compartments were cleared. RESULTS: Permanent pareses of recurrent laryngeal nerve or permanent hypocalcaemias were not observed. 3 patients developed transient recurrent nerve palsy, 26 patients transient hypocalcaemia (Ca2+ > 1.7 and < 2.2 mmol/l). In 3 patients mild voice disturbances, probably due to superior laryngeal nerve dysfunction were observed. In 1 patient short-time tracheotomy was performed. 1 patients showed permanent Horner's syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Thyroidectomy with extended lymphadenectomy achieves removal of all cervical tumor masses without relevant morbidity. The distribution of metastatic lymph nodes underlines the necessity of extended lymphadenectomy.

Telecare of diabetic patients with intensified insulin therapy. A randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Patients with insulin dependent diabetes require frequent advice if their metabolic control is suboptimal. A telemedical system for transmission of self monitoring blood glucose values from the patients' home to the diabetes center with a combined modem-interface is described. Data are processed by PC and advice is given by telephone. The study focuses on metabolic outcome, fiscal and administrative aspects. METHODS: A prospective, randomized trial with 46 patients with intensified insulin therapy was conducted, 30 patients used telecare and 16 conventional care. RESULTS: HbA1c, as a parameter of metabolic control, dropped from 8.3% to 7.3% in the telecare group and from 8.0% to 6.8% in the conventional group after 8 months of observation. There was no significant difference between the two groups. Time expenditure for telemanagement, compared to conventional advice, was moderately higher, but there was a substantial amount of time on the patients side that could be saved mainly by reduction of to travel time and work stoppage. Setting up an optimal telemanagement scenario a cost analysis was done. This yields a cost saving of about 650 EURO per year. CONCLUSION: Telemanagement of insulin-requiring diabetic patients is a cost and time saving procedure for the patients and results in metabolic control comparable to conventional outpatient management.