By continuous monitoring of a solid meal labelled with a radiopharmaceutical it has been possible to determine the effects of drugs on gastric emptying and motility during a single study. Predictably hyoscine delayed, and bethanechol increased, the rate of gastric emptying. Pentagastrin initially produced marked antral activity resulting in a physiological stricture and subsequent delay in the ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the evidence for the use of hyoscine N-butylbromide (HBB) in the treatment of acute renal colic. METHODS A literature search was performed using the keywords 'hyoscine N-butylbromide', 'ureteral colic', 'spasmolytic', 'anticholinergic' and 'analgesia'. The articles were given the appropriate level of evidence according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine ...

Bowel sounds were heard in 42 cases from group A compared with 13 from group B (X2 test, P <0 001). When it became likely that an effect was present (after 50 cases) the scope of the investigation was widened to include observations of the bowel sounds 30 and 60 minutes later by trained recovery room staff who did not know which drugs had been injected. Of 31 patients from group A, 24 had audib...

Objectives To develop a process of advance consent to enable research to be undertaken in patients in the terminal phase. Design Feasibility study of an advance consent process to support a randomised controlled trial of two antimuscarinic drugs (hyoscine hydrobromide and glycopyrronium bromide) in the management of noisy respirations associated with retained secretions (“death rattle”). Settin...

Transdermal scopolamine may be used to reduce drooling in children with disabilities. Side-effects include dilated pupils and a reduction in the near point of accommodation (the closest point at which clear vision is possible). Two male children with epilepsy, one with spinal dysraphism (aged 7y 6mo) and one with cerebral palsy (aged 5y 8mo), who have undergone treatment for drooling with trans...