There are about 2320 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Chile. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
Due to their underlying pathology and the necessary complicated procedures to which they are exposed, patients in the intensive care unit experience varying degrees of pain at some point in their evolution. Evidence has established short-term and long-term negative consequences of unresolved pain or excessive analgesic sedation. However, pain assessment or adequate nociceptive monitoring remains a significant challenge, especially in non-communicative patients under deep sedation, who urgently need to expand and improve current tools. Pain assessment in critically ill patients is challenging; limitations in their ability to communicate (neurocognitive deficit, use of endotracheal tube) or altered consciousness (deep sedation) make them unable to self-report their pain with standard pain scales. The Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS) and the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) are the pain assessment tools with the best performance and reliability for patients in these conditions. Different technologies are used to monitor nociceptive responses caused by surgical stress in patients under general anesthesia that together with the clinical evaluation, manage to keep patients in the best analgesic conditions, improving the post-surgical prognosis. In particular, the NOL® nociceptive index (Medasense, Ramat Gan, Israel) is a multiparametric detection of nociception/pain, delivering a dimensionless score (0 -100) calculated through an algorithm (patented) and based on the registry of four biometric sensors (photoplethysmography, galvanic skin response, temperature, and accelerometer). NOL index value between 10-25 is the most appropriate for maintaining analgesia during general anesthesia. The ease and low invasiveness of this system (all sensors are implemented in a finger clip, similar to an oxygen saturation monitor) may allow its potential use in the context of intensive care unit patients. Some studies have recently been published that highlight the possible usefulness of the NOL® index in critically ill patients. However, in these studies, the assessment of nociception was limited to acute nociceptive procedures only.
This study aims to determine the effect of two types of exercise training on body composition, cardiopulmonary function and quality of life in people after undergoing bariatric surgery.
Objectives: To evaluate the pressure pain threshold, shoulder biomechanics, cardiorespiratory function and the quality of life associated with the short and long-term physical therapy rehabilitation following breast cancer surgery. Methodology: The study presents three objectives and involves three groups of participants. Objective 1 is to develop a topographic map of pressure pain in the shoulder (using a digital pressure algometer), evaluate the biomechanics of the shoulder (using a digital inclinometer and load card), cardiorespiratory function (through frequency variability resting heart rate and distance traveled, through the six-minute walk test) and quality of life (through questionnaires of quality of life, anxiety, depression, sleep quality, upper limb functionality, fatigue and level of physical activity) between a group of women prior to the operation of breast cancer (experimental group, n = 36) and a group of asymptomatic controls for shoulder pain (control group, n = 18). Objective 2 is to evaluate the possible changes in the pain map over 24 weeks of supervised kinetic intervention (Supervised Physiotherapy experimental group, n = 18, will begin after drainage, frequency 3 times per week and duration of 60 minutes each session) compared to unsupervised kinetic intervention (Home Physiotherapy experimental group, n = 18, participants will receive an exercise booklet). Objective 3 is to evaluate the biomechanics of the shoulder, cardiorespiratory function and the quality of life with respect to the experimental group with and without kinesic supervision. To achieve objective 1, two baseline evaluations will be carried out in both experimental and control groups (considering the month prior to the surgery of the experimental group) and the average of the evaluations will be considered evaluation 1. To achieve objectives 2 and 3, evaluation 2 (after 4 weeks of intervention), 3 (after 12 weeks of intervention) and 4 (after 24 weeks of intervention) will be performed. The statistical analysis will include the examination of qualitative and quantitative variables. Statistical tests will be applied according to the normality of the data and a significance level of 5% will be adopted for all comparisons. Expected results: It is expected to identify sensory, biomechanical, cardiorespiratory and quality of life alterations in the experimental group, compared to the control group. In addition, after 24 weeks of intervention, the supervised experimental group will show improvement in all the aforementioned variables with respect to the unsupervised group.
It is known that cryotherapy has various therapeutic applications, among which are the control of the inflammatory process, resolution of edema, analgesia and decreased spasticity. In addition, the use of cold as an agent to decrease or facilitate neuromuscular activity has been documented. The scientific information that supports the relationship of short duration cold with the improvement of the motor response is scarce and outdated. The objective of this design is to evaluate the effectiveness of rapid cooling or Quick Icing technique in the improvement of muscular performance. The foregoing would be relevant in the field of Kinesiology (Physiotherapy) because it would attribute cold properties that could influence the increase in muscle strength, favoring the performance of different therapeutic exercises, training or high performance sport, in addition to supporting the proposal of this intervention in patients with particular neurological disorders.