Doctor world

The researchers say that the speed of a single dose of quick relieve symptoms but should be reserved for the worst cases. A new study shows that a single dose of corticosteroids, given together with antibiotics, can reduce the pain of severe sore throat faster and more effective than antibiotics alone. This report published in the online edition of BMJ August 7, 2009.

Researcher Dr Carl Heneghan, deputy director of the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford UK, said that the people who get a sore throat, a single dose of oral steroids effective in relieving pain in 24 and 48 hours. Dr. Heneghan menakankan that this treatment is not recommended for mild sore throat, which will disappear by itself. If you appear in the ER and you have really experienced severe tonsilitas and you experience pain at all, additional treatment is to take one dose of corticosteroids, he explained.

Corticosteroids reduce pain by reducing inflammation and is usually prescribed for conditions such as asthma and shortness of breath. According to British researchers, its use as a pain reliever for sore throat can help reduce the need for antibiotics, which are often overused and helps create resistant bacteria.

For this study, groups of eight experiments Heneghan analyze the effectiveness of corticosteroids compared with placebo in adults or children with severe sore throat. In total, the study included 743 patients, 369 of whom are children.

The researchers found that patients given an antibiotic corticosteroid appears three times as many who reported no pain 24 hours after treatment compared with patients given antibiotics and placebo.

After two days of this effect is less clear, which indicates that only one dose of corticosteroids needed, according to the researchers. In addition, corticosteroids also reduce the time required to remove the sense of saki about six hours.

Tim Heneghan noted that significant pain was observed only in adult patients and not in children who received corticosteroids. In addition, the researchers found that pain medication other no difference in the results of research. "What we do not know is: Are corticosteroid replace antibiotics?" "That's the topic of research we want to do next," Heneghan said.


Dr. Julie Wei, an assistant professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, agrees that the steroid works well in relieving sore throat pain is severe, but he warned that antibiotics are no substitute for corticosteroids, which treat the infection, not pain. "The use of steroids should not substitute for antibiotics," said Wei.




Single-dose steroid use is a common practice, said Wei. "For example, all child patients who undergo tonsillectomy and adenoidektomi get a single dose of intravenous kortikostreroid at surgery, because steroids are anti-nausea and anti-vomiting medication most potent that we have," he said.

Single-dose steroid also helps improve the eating and drinking, and feel good, said Wei. "Also, people in the emergency room or the children admitted to the throat abscess usually get a dose of steroids if they experience severe pain or difficulty opening their mouths because of inflammation. ENT experts have suggested this unusual," he added. "The point is, corticosteroids are commonly used in anesthesia, ER, etc., but does not replace antibiotics," said Wei.