RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the attitude and perception toward antiplatelet/anticoagulant agents in patients with cardiovascular diseases among dentists in the northern district of Jordan and to compare the current practice of Jordanian dentists and the recently published guidelines regarding the management of patients taking antiplatelet/anticoagulant drugs before dental procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on dentists and dental interns working at the dental clinics in northern Jordan, including dental clinics at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and the private sector. The total sample size comprised of 128 subjects (78 dentists from JUST and 50 private practitioners). The participants were interviewed using a preformed questionnaire to assess their knowledge and perceptions regarding the antiplatelets and the anticoagulant agents. RESULTS: Approximately 61.5% of participants from JUST university and 20.0% of those in the private sector were aware of the use of clopidogrel (P < 0.0001). Although the overall awareness regarding other antiplatelets such as prasugrel was very low (8.6%), dentists from JUST (12.8%) showed a significantly higher level of awareness compared to the private practitioners (2.0%) (P = 0.049). More than 70% of the participants from JUST and only 46.0% of the private practitioners were aware of the consequences of interrupting treatment with clopidogrel in patients with coronary stents (P = 0.002). Almost both the participants from JUST (25.78%) and the private sector (24.22%) are consulting the cardiologists with similar frequencies before interrupting the treatment with the antiplatelet/anticoagulant agents. Participants who have clinical PhD qualifications are more aware of the recent clinical guidelines and the newest agents compared to others. CONCLUSIONS: The awareness regarding the newest antiplatelet/anticoagulant agents is poor among the dentists in northern Jordan. However, the majority (62.3%) of them realize the consequences of interrupting such treatments in patients with coronary stents. Unfortunately, only a quarter of the dentists are consulting the cardiologists before interrupting the treatment with the antiplatelet agents. Proper education, courses, and workshops should be performed to the dentists to improve their knowledge about this critical issue.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Taxane-induced nail changes are considered as an important cosmetic manifestation with an incidence that reaches up to 44% of patients treated with taxane-included therapeutic regimens. In this article, we represent a clinical observational study to evaluate the effect of cosmetic nail lacquer on taxane-induced nail changes in female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. METHODS: Prospectively, we identified those women who were diagnosed with breast cancer, scheduled to have AC-Taxol protocol. Any female with previous dermatological or systemic disorders that affect nails was excluded from the study. Patients were categorized into 2 groups based on the utilization of nail lacquer. The first group includes women who started to use the nail lacquer after development of nail changes. The second group comprises those women who did not use the nail lacquer at any occasion. RESULTS: A total of 59 female patients were included in the study; 46 (78%) of them developed nail changes and the main change was nail discoloration. The first group which has used nail lacquer (17, 28.8%) showed an improvement among 15 (78.9%) patients, whereas 2 (7.4%) of them continued to have worsening symptoms. On the contrary, most of the second group (25, 92.9%) did not show any improvement in nail changes. A statistical significance between the tested groups was observed (P = .000). There is no statistical association between the progression of nail changes and the age of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Taxane-induced nail changes are considered as an important clinical, cosmetic, and psychological complication, especially for female patients with cancer. This article suggests that nail lacquer may have an effect in the improvement of nail changes, especially nail discoloration. Further investigations are recommended to prove the efficacy of nail lacquer.
