Local treatment of tendinopathies: a comparison between tropisetron and depot corticosteroids combined with local anesthetics.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether local injection of the 5-HT3-receptor antagonist, tropisetron. reduces pain in tendinopathies to the same degree as a local injection of corticosteroids in combination with local anesthetic. METHODS: Forty patients with tendinopathies were enrolled in this randomized, observer-blind study. An injection of either 5 mg tropisetron. or 10 mg dexamethasone combined with 60 mg lidocaine was administered around the affected tendon. The effect was measured with a visual analog pain scale before the injection, after 3 hours and on each of the following 7 days, in patients with good effects also 3 months after the injection. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the tropisetron and the corticosteroid/anesthetic group in terms of pain at rest or on movement during the study. Both treatments were well tolerated. CONCLUSION: Local injection of tropisetron seems to be as safe and as effective as the combination of corticosteroids and local anesthetics in the treatment of painful tendinopathies.

Highly purified omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids for topical treatment of psoriasis. Results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled multicentre study.

We report the results of a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of topical therapy with omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3-PUFA) in 52 patients suffering from moderate plaque-type psoriasis. In each patient, two similar stable psoriatic plaques served as indicator lesions for the study. One indicator lesion was randomly assigned to treatment with topical preparations of highly purified omega-3-PUFA in one of two concentrations (1 or 10%), and the other was treated with placebo. Efficacy assessment was based on changes in local psoriasis severity index, area involved, erythema, desquamation, induration and pruritus. After 8 weeks of treatment, all indicator lesions had improved significantly, compared with baseline. However, no statistically or clinically relevant differences between the omega-3-PUFA-treated and the placebo-treated lesions were found. Therapy was well tolerated and, apart from one patient who developed perilesional eczema, no clinically relevant adverse events occurred. In conclusion, topical omega-3-PUFA were not effective in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind setting. Results of non-blind trials should be (re-)considered with caution.