Oral medical dissolution of gallstones in patients with gallstone disease

Being the main treatment for cholelithiasis, laparoscopic cholecystectomy does not always solve the problem. It often entails postcholecystectomy syndrome (PCS). Oral medication to dissolve gallstones with bile acids is alternative therapy for some patients. However, lack of efficacy and limited medical indications make it necessary to apply combination treatment tactics. This study was conducted to investigate the dissolution of gallstones during the combined effects of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and rosuvastatin as well as to assess the results of eradication therapy in the presence of H. pylory as a measure to prevent cholelithiasis in the course of treatment.

Dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia regarding combined treatment regimens for acute uncomplicated malaria, Antioquia, Colombia.

Selecting suitable anti-malarial treatment represents one of the best tools for reducing morbidity and mortality caused by this disease. Sexual and asexual parasite dynamics were thus evaluated in patients involved in antimalarial drug efficacy studies by using combined treatment with and without artemisinin derivatives for treating uncomplicated acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Antioquia, Colombia. All treatment doses were supervised and administered according to patients' weight; sexual and asexual parasitemia were evaluated during 28- or 42-days follow-up in 468 patients. Artemisinin-based combination therapy showed greater parasiticidal ability, showing a mean asexual parasitemia survival rate of one day and mean gametocyte survival rate of 1-2 days. Sexual and asexual parasitemias were eliminated more quickly and effectively in the group receiving artemisinin-based combination therapy. Adding 45 mg of primaquine to treatment with artesunate and mefloquine reduced gametocyte and asexual parasite survival by one day.