Dexamethasone/Netilmicin Sulfate

Cataract is an ophthalmic disease that usually affects the elderly population. Cataract surgery with phaco-emulsification is now the most frequently performed intraocular surgical procedure in the developed world. However, differences in surgical technique impact the severity of surgical trauma and post-operative recovery. The amount of post-operative ocular pain and inflammation plays a significant role in the Patient's perception of the surgical success.
Several ophthalmic products have been studied in the management of post-surgery ocular inflammation and pain following cataract surgery. Corticosteroids are considered the gold standard for the treatment of ocular inflammation, and their most commonly used route of administration is the topical instillation as eye drops formulation.
After topical administration of Dexamethasone, the concentration in the anterior chamber increases and declines within hours, necessitating frequent daily instillations of eye drops for several weeks. This might be associated with compliance issues, particularly in elderly Patients or in individuals with disabilities. A pharmaceutical formulation allowing for a less frequent administration could therefore be an attractive alternative.
NETILDEX™ eye drops solution, containing Netilmicin Sulfate 4.55 mg (3mg/ml) and Dexamethasone Disodium Phosphate 1.32 mg (1mg/ml), is already available for Patients. A new ophthalmic gel, preservative-free formulation has been developed. This new formulation has been tested in pre-clinical animal studies and in a clinical trial. The new formulation contains Xanthan gum, a high molecular mass polysaccharide approved by the FDA in 1969 for food products. It is used in the product as viscosity enhancer and to give to the product pseudo-plastic characteristics and prolonged ocular retention time.
The purpose of this trial is to show that the administration of a reduced dose of NETILDEX ™ gel 2 times a day starting on the day of cataract extraction by means of phaco-emulsification and administered until 14 days after surgery is sufficient to obtain a non-inferior efficacy of the NETILDEX ™ eye drops solution administered 4 times a day for the same period.

Heart failure is a major clinical problem that is increasing in magnitude and the cost of management of heart failure is escalating. A significant part of this cost is related to unplanned acute presentation to emergency departments and hospitalisation with worsening shortness of breath due to increased fluid content in the lungs.
Many heart failure patients are already fitted with defibrillators to protect them from the risk of fast heart rhythms and sudden death and are followed up in both the heart failure clinics and defibrillator clinics. Recently some of the defibrillators fitted have been equipped with an extra function that can detect and warn of changes in the fluid content of the lungs very early even before the patient starts to complain of any shortness of breath and before any signs of fluid overload are seen clinically. However, it is not known how to deal with these warnings if they occur very early and it is not known whether a medical intervention at his stage is beneficial to prevent progression and eventual hospital admission. In the majority of cases, early warnings of this kind are ignored or this function is disabled at implantation of the device.
The current study will involve patients who have already been fitted with a device with the above capability. The investigators will use the new function to guide management of these patients and compare their outcome with similar patients who are fitted with devices without it. The investigators will attempt to manage early warnings by a predetermined increase in medications in a group of patients and compare their clinical course to a similar group in whom no action is taken.