engleski

Experience in the treatment of amputees (victims of the war) with the analgesic tenoxicam

The war Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991- 1993) caused many casualties in military and civilian populations alike. Many different weapons were employed, including weapons forbidden by international convention. Many patients have under gone amputation of extremities, either as a result of serious wounding or indirectly because the war prevented normal access to medical services. The Department of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Rhebilitation and Rheumatology studied the effectiveness of Tenoxicam (Tilcotil Roche) as an analgesic in the treatment of amputees victims of war. The subjects were 102 patients who had undergone amputation of a leg. We studied patients in two groups: Group A:73 patients (68 men and 5 women) who had been injured bya wide range of weapons including shells, mines and bullets. Theirages ranged from 18 to 74 years. Group B : 29 civilian patients (20 men and 9 women) who had sufferedindirect consequences of the war. Ages ranged from 40 to 86 years , with an average of 60.24. All patients received intramuscular injections (20 mg) of Tenoxicarn onceper day as an analgesic. Each of these patients came to the Department where the wound had healed sufficiently for a temporaryprosthesis to be applied, rather than immediately after surgeryP. ain intensity, during the treatrnent of Tenoxicam (averagedurationwas 11.68 days), was therefore recorded descriptively, with the help of a visual analogue scale (VAS). The method uses two ways of expressing the intensity of pain and thus provides a degreeof objectivity in assessing the analgesic effect. Conc1usion: Tenoxicam is routinely used as a non- steroidal antirheumaticdrug for the symptomatic treatement of various rheurnatic diseases.This study shows that the drug can also be considered for purelyanalgesic use in a broad range of situations, particularly becauseit is tolerated well and has few side-effects.

Amputees; victims of the war; tenoxicam

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