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Biomedical subjects

F D Hart

Publications and source records attributed to F D Hart.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Double-blind multicentre UK hospital studies of isoxicam vs naproxen.

1 Two multicentre, parallel group, randomised, double-blind, double-dummy comparison studies were conducted between isoxicam in the usual dose of 200 mg once daily and naproxen 500 mg twice daily. 2 The drugs were administered for 4 weeks to 230 patients suffering from osteoarthritis of the hip and/or knee in the first trial and to 249 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis in the second. 3 The studies compared treatments for both safety and overall effectiveness in the relief of pain. 4 In the osteoarthritis trial, overall pain was reduced by both drugs after 2 weeks of therapy but only isoxicam produced further improvement after 4 weeks. 5 Isoxicam produced reductions comparable to those produced by naproxen in pain on standing from the sitting position, pain on walking, and pain on movement of the affected joint, after 2 and 4 weeks. 6 After 4 weeks, isoxicam given once daily in the morning was significantly more effective than naproxen given in the morning and the evening in relieving not only total pain as assessed by a visual analogue scale but, as importantly, night pain. 7 Compared to naproxen therapy, isoxicam therapy was associated with significantly more patients whose disease state was improved at 2 weeks, as assessed by physicians. 8 In the rheumatoid arthritis trial, isoxicam was equally as effective as naproxen in reducing joint tenderness, joint swelling, and pain; at 4 weeks there was a trend in favour of isoxicam in reduction of joint swelling and pain. 9 Isoxicam reduced morning stiffness significantly more than naproxen after 4 weeks; this trend was apparent at 2 weeks.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal↗
PubMed1986

Regressive systemic sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis is a disease which usually progresses or reaches a plateau with persistence of symptoms and signs. Regression is extremely unusual. Four cases of established scleroderma are described in which regression is well documented. The significance of this observation and possible mechanisms of disease regression are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Pain relief in the rheumatic and other disorders.

When severe pain is present, so usually is fear. Whether the pain results from a traffic accident, a sports injury, an arthritic exacerbation or a coronary thrombosis, an explanation of what is going on carries considerable reassurance, for uncertainty and fear of the unknown aggravates and increases the pain. I remember well a frightened lady being admitted with acute dorsal backache, the pain of which was not controlled by 6-hourly injections of morphine. She feared she had metastatic malignant disease in the spine, which indeed she did have, but in a calm and reassuring atmosphere and with excellent nursing staff she was maintained only on mild sedation and simple analgesics. For some patients the knowledge that injections are given for serious conditions adds to their anxiety. The pain of metastatic malignant disease is often helped considerably by NSAIDs or simple analgesics. Almost all pains have several components and therefore different therapeutic approaches.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1984

William Harvey and his gout.

In William Harvey's day almost any or every arthropathy was termed gout. This is evident in the case histories of some of his patients and in his own case, where his own cold water therapy would suggest the correct diagnosis was not gout but erythromelalgia (Weir Mitchell's disease).

Arthritis↗
PubMed1984

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Current status and rational therapeutic use.

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), the first of the NSAIDs (introduced in 1899), was initially never referred to as an anti-inflammatory agent. It was the advent of cortisone in 1949 that demonstrated dramatically that corticosteroids had anti-inflammatory properties and the term 'non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug' was first used when phenylbutazone was introduced 3 years later. Since then, the NSAIDs have proliferated. There is to date no good evidence that they halt progression of rheumatoid disease, but by easing pain and diminishing swelling they make life much easier in osteoarthrosis, rheumatoid arthritis and many other types of arthritis, and are the drugs of first choice in acute gout. Their mode (or modes) of action are obscure and though inhibition of cyclo-oxygenase (prostaglandin synthetase) is clearly important, other mechanisms are also involved. The assessment of the anti-inflammatory action of these agents has received considerable attention in clinical trials because, whatever their action may be in experimental animal models, their action in inflamed joints in human patients must be ascertained, since there may be little parallel between the two. Different experimental animal models give different results with various agents and often bear little relation to their therapeutic action in man. No attempt has been made here to review in depth all the NSAIDs that have appeared since 1952. All have anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity and all can cause gastrointestinal side effects, though effectiveness and toxicity vary from drug to drug and patient to patient, there being very great interpatient variability. Non-reactors, patients who apparently fail to respond to certain agents, need further study, for it seems that these subjects may metabolise these agents differently from others. Considerable ingenuity has been shown not only in evolving new NSAIDs but in finding new ways of administering them. The number and variety of NSAIDs in their various forms varies greatly from country to country, depending largely on the regulatory bodies of those countries. In the meantime, the search for a better, less toxic compound continues with the hope that one may be found which has a deeper and more basic action on the underlying disease process.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Drug-induced arthritis and arthralgia.

In the differential diagnosis of arthritis and arthralgia, one must consider the possibility of adverse drug reactions being responsible. The distinction between primary cause and secondary aggravation of a pre-existing condition is often difficult and sometimes impossible to make; for instance, oral contraceptives may seem on occasion to precipitate pre-existing rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus and also to cause temporary symptoms resembling these disorders in previously normal subjects. In addition, serum sickness type reactions, myopathies, electrolyte and fluid disturbances, pseudosclerodermas, bone lesions and local reactions to intra-articular injections have been described. One should therefore be aware of the possibility of drug-induced syndromes resembling rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, periarthritis of the shoulders, progressive systemic sclerosis, and other rheumatic and arthritic disorders. Though rarely severe or incapacitating, they may cause considerable diagnostic confusion.

Arthritis↗