ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectivenessand tolerability of treatment with P africanum(P. africanum) in patients with lower urinary tractsymptoms (LUTS) associated with benign prostatichyperplasia (BPH) in routine clinical practice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional observationalstudy in which 115 patients with LUTS/BPHtreated for 6 months with P. africanum (Tebetane® compuesto)in real-world clinical practice conditions wereincluded. The primary objective was to assess thequality of life (QoL) according to changes in the scoresof item 8 of the International Prostate Symptom Score(IPSS) questionnaire (a score ≥ 4 indicates a significantimpairment of QoL). Secondary objectives includedimprovement of urinary symptoms, urinary flow, satisfactionand compliance with treatment as well astolerability. Data were collected in a single scheduledvisit at 6 months of treatment with P. africanum andwere compared with data registered in the medicalrecords at the beginning of treatment. RESULTS: After 6 months of treatment withP. africanum, the percentage of patient with significantimpairment of QoL was 22.6% as compared with45.2% at the initiation of treatment (P 0,-001). Theoverall IPSS score showed a mean decreas of -4,-5points (median -4,0, interquartile range [IQR] -7,-0 to-2,0) and 69 patients (60%) showed a clinically significantimprovement (reduction of ≥ 4 points). Therewere significant decreases in IPSS subscales of storage(mean -1,-8; median -2,-0, IQR -3,-0 to 0 (P 0,-001)and voiding (mean -1,-9; median -2,-0, IQR -3,-0 to 0)(P 0,-001) symptoms. The degree of satisfaction and compliance with treatment was high with mean scores(median) of 6,9 (7,0) and 9,2 (10), respectively in the1-10 visual analogue scale. Treatment-related adverseeffects did not occur. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with P. africanum during6 months improved significantly QoL and LUTS inpatients with BPH, with a high level of satisfaction andcompliance with treatment, without adverse events.
OBJETIVO: Evaluar la efectividad y latolerabilidad del tratamiento con Pygeum africanum (P.africanum) en pacientes con síntomas del tracto urinarioinferior (STUI) asociados a hiperplasia benigna depróstata (HBP) en la práctica clínica habitual.MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Estudio observacionaltransversal en el que se incluyeron 115 pacientes conSTUI/HBP tratados durante 6 meses con P. africanum (Tebetane® compuesto) en condiciones de prácticaclínica real. El objetivo primario fue evaluar la calidadde vida (CdV) en función del cambio en la pregunta 8del cuestionario de Puntuación Internacional de losSíntomas Prostáticos (IPSS) (puntuación ≥ 4 indicaafectación significativa de la CdV). Los objetivos secundariosincluyeron la mejoría de síntomas urinarios,flujo urinario, satisfacción y cumplimiento con eltratamiento, así como la tolerabilidad del mismo. Losdatos se recogieron en una única visita programada alos 6 meses de tratamiento con P. africanum y se compararoncon los registrados en la historia clínica alinicio del tratamiento. RESULTADOS: Tras 6 meses de tratamiento conP. africanum, el porcentaje de pacientes con afectaciónsignificativa de la CdV fue del 22,6% en comparacióncon un 45,2% al inicio del tratamiento (P 0,001).La puntuación global del IPSS disminuyó de mediaen -4,5 puntos (mediana -4,0, rango intercuartílico [RIQ] -7,0 a -2,0) y 69 pacientes (60%) mostraron unamejoría clínicamente significativa (disminución ≥ 4puntos). Se observaron disminuciones significativasen las subescalas del IPSS de los síntomas de llenado(media -1,8; mediana -2,0, RIQ -3,0 a 0) (P 0,001) yvaciado (media -1,9; mediana -2,0, RIQ -3,0 a 0) (P 0,001). El grado de satisfacción y cumplimiento con eltratamiento fue elevado con valores medios (mediana)de 6,9 (7,0) y 9,2 (10) respectivamente, en una escalaanalógica visual 1-10 cm. No se registraron efectosadversos relacionados con el tratamiento. CONCLUSION: El tratamiento con P. africanum(P. africanum) durante 6 meses mejoró significativamentela CdV y los STUI en pacientes con HBP, con unalto grado de satisfacción y cumplimiento con el tratamiento,sin registrarse reacciones adversas.
Subject(s)
Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms , Prostatic Hyperplasia , Prunus africana , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/drug therapy , Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/etiology , Male , Prostatic Hyperplasia/complications , Prostatic Hyperplasia/diagnosis , Prostatic Hyperplasia/drug therapy , Quality of Life , Spain , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
OBJETIVO: Evaluar la efectividad y latolerabilidad del tratamiento con Pygeum africanum (P.africanum) en pacientes con síntomas del tracto urinario inferior (STUI) asociados a hiperplasia benigna depróstata (HBP) en la práctica clínica habitual.MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Estudio observacionaltransversal en el que se incluyeron 115 pacientes conSTUI/HBP tratados durante 6 meses con P. africanum (Tebetane® compuesto) en condiciones de prácticaclínica real. El objetivo primario fue evaluar la calidadde vida (CdV) en función del cambio en la pregunta 8del cuestionario de Puntuación Internacional de losSíntomas Prostáticos (IPSS) (puntuación ≥ 4 indicaafectación significativa de la CdV). Los objetivos secundarios incluyeron la mejoría de síntomas urinarios, flujo urinario, satisfacción y cumplimiento con eltratamiento, así como la tolerabilidad del mismo. Losdatos se recogieron en una única visita programada alos 6 meses de tratamiento con P. africanum y se compararon con los registrados en la historia clínica alinicio del tratamiento.RESULTADOS: Tras 6 meses de tratamiento conP. africanum, el porcentaje de pacientes con afectaciónsignificativa de la CdV fue del 22,6% en comparacióncon un 45,2% al inicio del tratamiento (P < 0,001).La puntuación global del IPSS disminuyó de mediaen -4,5 puntos (mediana -4,0, rango intercuartílico [RIQ] -7,0 a -2,0) y 69 pacientes (60%) mostraron unamejoría clínicamente significativa (disminución ≥ 4puntos). Se observaron disminuciones significativasen las subescalas del IPSS de los síntomas de llenado(media -1,8; mediana -2,0, RIQ -3,0 a 0) (P < 0,001) yvaciado (media -1,9; mediana -2,0, RIQ -3,0 a 0) (P <0,001). El grado de satisfacción y cumplimiento con eltratamiento fue elevado con valores medios (mediana)de 6,9 (7,0) y 9,2 (10) respectivamente, en una escalaanalógica visual 1-10 cm. No se registraron efectosadversos relacionados con el tratamiento.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and tolerability of treatment with P africanum(P. africanum) in patients with lower urinary tractsymptoms (LUTS) associated with benign prostatichyperplasia (BPH) in routine clinical practice.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional observational study in which 115 patients with LUTS/BPHtreated for 6 months with P. africanum (Tebetane® compuesto) in real-world clinical practice conditions wereincluded. The primary objective was to assess thequality of life (QoL) according to changes in the scoresof item 8 of the International Prostate Symptom Score(IPSS) questionnaire (a score ≥ 4 indicates a significantimpairment of QoL). Secondary objectives includedimprovement of urinary symptoms, urinary flow, satisfaction and compliance with treatment as well astolerability. Data were collected in a single scheduledvisit at 6 months of treatment with P. africanum andwere compared with data registered in the medicalrecords at the beginning of treatment.RESULTS: After 6 months of treatment withP. africanum, the percentage of patient with significant impairment of QoL was 22.6% as compared with45.2% at the initiation of treatment (P < 0,-001). Theoverall IPSS score showed a mean decreas of -4,-5points (median -4,0, interquartile range [IQR] -7,-0 to-2,0) and 69 patients (60%) showed a clinically significant improvement (reduction of ≥ 4 points). Therewere significant decreases in IPSS subscales of storage(mean -1,-8; median -2,-0, IQR -3,-0 to 0 (P < 0,-001)and voiding (mean -1,-9; median -2,-0, IQR -3,-0 to 0)(P < 0,-001) symptoms. The degree of satisfaction and compliance with treatment was high with mean scores(median) of 6,9 (7,0) and 9,2 (10), respectively in the1-10 visual analogue scale. Treatment-related adverseeffects did not occur.CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with P. africanum during 6 months improved significantly QoL and LUTS inpatients with BPH, with a high level of satisfaction
Subject(s)
Humans , Adult , Middle Aged , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Prostatic Hyperplasia , Prunus africana/chemistry , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/drug therapy , Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/etiology , Prostatic Hyperplasia/complications , Prostatic Hyperplasia/diagnosis , Prostatic Hyperplasia/drug therapy , Treatment Outcome , Cross-Sectional Studies , Quality of Life , SpainABSTRACT
As multiple sclerosis (MS) usually affects the visual pathway, visual electrophysiological tests can be used to diagnose it. The objective of this paper is to research methods for processing multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) recordings to improve the capacity to diagnose MS. MfERG recordings from 15 early-stage MS patients without a history of optic neuritis and from 6 control subjects were examined. A normative database was built from the control subject signals. The mfERG recordings were filtered using empirical mode decomposition (EMD). The correlation with the signals in a normative database was used as the classification feature. Using EMD-based filtering and performance correlation, the mean area under the curve (AUC) value was 0.90. The greatest discriminant capacity was obtained in ring 4 and in the inferior nasal quadrant (AUC values of 0.96 and 0.94, respectively). Our results suggest that the combination of filtering mfERG recordings using EMD and calculating the correlation with a normative database would make mfERG waveform analysis applicable to assessment of multiple sclerosis in early-stage patients.
Subject(s)
Electroretinography/methods , Multiple Sclerosis/diagnosis , Area Under Curve , Biomarkers , Discriminant Analysis , Humans , ROC Curve , Retina/physiologyABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS) using optical coherence tomography (OCT) data and a support vector machine (SVM) as an automatic classifier. Forty-eight MS patients without symptoms of optic neuritis and forty-eight healthy control subjects were selected. Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) was performed using a DRI (deep-range imaging) Triton OCT device (Topcon Corp., Tokyo, Japan). Mean values (right and left eye) for macular thickness (retinal and choroidal layers) and peripapillary area (retinal nerve fibre layer, retinal, ganglion cell layer-GCL, and choroidal layers) were compared between both groups. Based on the analysis of the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC), the 3 variables with the greatest discriminant capacity were selected to form the feature vector. A SVM was used as an automatic classifier, obtaining the confusion matrix using leave-one-out cross-validation. Classification performance was assessed with Matthew's correlation coefficient (MCC) and the AUCCLASSIFIER. The most discriminant variables were found to be the total GCL++ thickness (between inner limiting membrane to inner nuclear layer boundaries), evaluated in the peripapillary area and macular retina thickness in the nasal quadrant of the outer and inner rings. Using the SVM classifier, we obtained the following values: MCC = 0.81, sensitivity = 0.89, specificity = 0.92, accuracy = 0.91, and AUCCLASSIFIER = 0.97. Our findings suggest that it is possible to classify control subjects and MS patients without previous optic neuritis by applying machine-learning techniques to study the structural neurodegeneration in the retina.
Subject(s)
Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted/methods , Multiple Sclerosis/diagnosis , Optic Neuritis/diagnosis , Support Vector Machine , Tomography, Optical Coherence , Adult , Area Under Curve , Case-Control Studies , Female , Humans , Machine Learning , Male , Normal Distribution , Retina/pathology , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the performance of multifocal-visual-evoked-potential (mfVEP) signals filtered using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) in discriminating, based on amplitude, between control and multiple sclerosis (MS) patient groups, and to reduce variability in interocular latency in control subjects. METHODS: MfVEP signals were obtained from controls, clinically definitive MS and MS-risk progression patients (radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS)). The conventional method of processing mfVEPs consists of using a 1-35 Hz bandpass frequency filter (XDFT). The EMD algorithm was used to decompose the XDFT signals into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). This signal processing was assessed by computing the amplitudes and latencies of the XDFT and IMF signals (XEMD). The amplitudes from the full visual field and from ring 5 (9.8-15° eccentricity) were studied. The discrimination index was calculated between controls and patients. Interocular latency values were computed from the XDFT and XEMD signals in a control database to study variability. RESULTS: Using the amplitude of the mfVEP signals filtered with EMD (XEMD) obtains higher discrimination index values than the conventional method when control, MS-risk progression (RIS and CIS) and MS subjects are studied. The lowest variability in interocular latency computations from the control patient database was obtained by comparing the XEMD signals with the XDFT signals. Even better results (amplitude discrimination and latency variability) were obtained in ring 5 (9.8-15° eccentricity of the visual field). CONCLUSIONS: Filtering mfVEP signals using the EMD algorithm will result in better identification of subjects at risk of developing MS and better accuracy in latency studies. This could be applied to assess visual cortex activity in MS diagnosis and evolution studies.
