The effect of changes in patients' body position on the back pain intensity and hemodynamic status during and after radiofrequency catheter ablation of cardiac dysrhythmias.

BACKGROUND: After radiofrequency catheter ablation of arrhythmias, patients have to bed rest for 4-6 h to prevent bleeding and hematoma. However, such a rest may cause back pain in the patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of continuous change in body position during and after the radiofrequency ablation on the back pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a quasi-experimental design 75 patients referring to university-affiliated hospitals were randomly assigned to a control group, receiving no change in body position, group A subjected to changes in body position during and after ablation, and group B subjected to changes in body position during ablation. The intensity of pain, blood pressure, heart rate, and extent of bleeding and hematoma were measured. RESULTS: The groups were not significantly different in terms of demographic characteristics, blood pressure, heart rate, overall bleeding, or hematoma at the entry into the coronary care unit. While not significantly different from each other, the intensity of back pain between group A and B were significantly lower than that of group C. Compared to group C, group A and B had a significantly lower pain score up to 6 and 4 h after the procedure, respectively. Group B had a significantly higher pain score at 2, 4, and 6 h post ablation than group A. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that changing the body position during and after the ablation procedure would reduce or prevent the back pain without increasing the chance of bleeding and hematoma.

Effects of zinc supplement on plasma homocysteine level in end-stage renal disease patients: a double-blind randomized clinical trial.

Increased homocysteine (hCys) level is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular complications in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate effect of zinc (Zn) supplement on serum hCys level in ESRD patients. One hundred ESRD patients with Zn deficiency were enrolled in this double-blind randomized clinical trial. They were randomly subdivided into two groups and supplemented with Zn (Zn group) or placebo (control group) for 6 weeks. Fasting plasma hCys and Zn levels were measured before and at 43rd days after the start of the study. Serum Zn levels increased significantly (p < 0.0001), in Zn-treated group in comparison to placebo-treated group. In the Zn-treated group, serum hCys levels reduced significantly (p < 0.0001), compared to placebo group (p > 0.05). There was a significant (p < 0.0001) reduction of mean percentage of hCys in Zn-treated group compared to the placebo group. Our study showed that Zn supplementation decreases serum hCys levels in ESRD patients with Zn deficiency.

Comparison of risk factors for contrast-induced acute kidney injury between patients with and without diabetes.

Although it is well known that diabetics are at a higher risk of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) than nondiabetic patients, the reason for this discrepancy is not well known. Thus, in this study, we compared the predisposing factors for CI-AKI between patients with and without diabetes. We prospectively studied 290 consecutive in-hospital patients including 88 diabetics undergoing coronary angiography or a percutaneous coronary intervention in Kowsar hospital, and we compared risk factors for CI-AKI between diabetic and nondiabetic patients. CI-AKI was defined as RIFLE criteria within 48 hours after contrast exposure. The incidence of CR-AKI was significantly higher in diabetic patients compared with nondiabetics (P<0.05). The incidence of CI-AKI was significantly higher in patients with diabetes and left-ventricular ejection fraction ≤40%, hypercholesterolemia, serum creatinine ≥1.1 mg/dL, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <90 mL/min, Contrast volume ≥80 (mL), maximum safe contrast volume factor of 1.5, and dehydration, while in nondiabetics, a significantly higher incidence of CR-AKI was observed in those with serum creatinine ≥1.1 mg/dL (P=0.02) and/or eGFR<60 mL/min (P=0.01). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed hyperchlosteremia to be the strongest predictor of AKI (P=0.01, B:14.5) in diabetics, followed by eGFR<90 (P=0.05, B:12.4) but, in nondiabetics, only eGFR<60 predicted the occurrence of CI-AKI (P=0.04, B:2.3). It seems that the predisposing factors to CI-AKI differ in diabetics and nondiabetics. In patients with diabetes, hypercholesterolemia is the strongest predictor of CI-AKI, followed by eGFR and diabetics are at risk for CI-AKI in the early stage of chronic kidney disease (stage 2), accounting for the higher incidence of CI-AKI in them.