Systematic review of methods used in meta-analyses where a primary outcome is an adverse or unintended event

addresses: Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, St Luke's Campus, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. [email protected]: PMCID: PMC3528446types: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't© 2012 Warren et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Adverse consequences of medical interventions are a source of concern, but clinical trials may lack power to detect elevated rates of such events, while observational studies have inherent limitations. Meta-analysis allows the combination of individual studies, which can increase power and provide stronger evidence relating to adverse events. However, meta-analysis of adverse events has associated methodological challenges. The aim of this study was to systematically identify and review the methodology used in meta-analyses where a primary outcome is an adverse or unintended event, following a therapeutic intervention

Labour management of a woman with carnitine palmitoyl transferase type 2 deficiency

Carnitine palmitoyl transferase (CPT) type 2 deficiency is a disorder of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. In situations where energy stores are inadequate, such as may occur during labour women with CPT type 2 deficiency are at risk of rhabdomyolysis. There is limited experience in the management of women with this condition in labour. We report a case of successful labour management of a woman with CPT type 2 deficiency, together with a brief review of the published case reports and a discussion of the issues surrounding anaesthetic management.E.M. Slater, R. Grivell and A.M. Cyn