Intra-articular injections of ketamine and 25% dextrose improve clinical and pathological outcomes in the monosodium iodoacetate model of osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: The study evaluated the effect of intra-articular injections of ketamine and 25% dextrose with triamcinolone acetate (TA) and hyaluronic acid (HA) on joint pathology and pain behavior in monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced osteoarthritis (OA) in experimental mice. METHODS: In phase I, the MIA-induced OA model was standardized. In phase II, mice were divided into three groups: disease controls (DC), ketamine 12 mg/kg (K12) and ketamine 24 mg/kg (K24) to select an effective dose of ketamine for phase III. In phase III, the groups were: DC, normal controls (NC), K24, 25% dextrose (D25) - 10 µL, TA 6 mg/kg, and HA - 3.5 mg/kg. The effect of ketamine was compared with the standard drugs - TA and HA. In phases II and III, after 7 days following the induction of OA, animals were subjected to weekly behavioral tests and biweekly drug administration from week 2 to week 4. Subsequently, after 4 weeks knee joint samples were collected and sent for histopathological evaluation to a veterinary pathologist. RESULTS: In phase I, the DC group showed significant OA changes as compared to NC on knee joint histopathology scoring. In phase II, all the behavioral tests and knee joint histopathology results demonstrated a significant improvement with K24 as compared to DC. In phase III, significant differences were found between DC vs. HA, DC vs. D25, DC vs. K24, K24 vs. TA, HA vs. TA for open field test and hot plate test (p<0.001), whereas HA and ketamine showed comparable results for these tests. There was a significant improvement in D25, TA and K24, HA groups as compared to DC in histopathology scores, (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The NMDA antagonist effect of ketamine and the proliferative effect of 25% dextrose showed a reduction in pain and disease activity in the OA model.

Drug utilisation and off-label use of medications in anaesthesia in surgical wards of a teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: When a drug is used in a way that is different from that described in regulatory body approved drug label, it is said to be 'off label use'. Perioperative phase is sensitive from the point of view of patient safety and off-label drug use in this setup can prove to be hazardous to patient. Hence, it was planned to assess the pattern of drug utilisation and off-label use of perioperative medication during anaesthesia. METHODS: Preoperatively, demographic details and adverse events check list were filled from a total of 400 patients from general surgery, paediatric surgery and orthopaedics departments scheduled to undergo surgery. The perioperative assessment form was assessed to record all prescriptions followed by refilling of adverse events checklist in case record form. World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators were used for analysis of drug utilisation data. National Formulary of India 2011 was used as reference material to decide off-label drug use in majority instances along with package insert. RESULTS: A total of 3705 drugs were prescribed to the 400 participants and average number of drugs per patient was 9.26 ± 3.33. Prescriptions by generic name were 68.07% whereas 85.3% drugs were prescribed from hospital schedule. Off-label drugs overall formed 20.19% of the drugs prescribed. At least one off-label drug was prescribed to 82.5% of patients. Inappropriate dose was the most common form of off-label use. There was 1.6 times greater risk of occurrence of adverse events associated with the use of off-label drugs. CONCLUSION: Prescription indicators were WHO compliant. Off-label drug use was practiced in anaesthesia department with questionable clinical justification in some instances.