The blood-thinning drug Pradaxa has starred in a long-running drama with hundreds of adverse event reports, scores of lawsuits and more than 500 deaths. Introduced in 2010 as an option to Coumadin (warfarin), Pradaxa is under fire for dire side effects including hemorrhage and internal bleeding, as we wrote earlier this year. Unlike older anti-clotting….
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Warfarin + Antibiotics = Danger
Warfarin, the generic name for the most widely prescribed oral anticoagulant (blood thinner) in America, is used to prevent thrombosis (blood clots) and thromboembolism (blood clots that migrate throughout the body). People diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (rapid or irregular heartbeat), narrowed coronary arteries, who have had valve or stent replacement surgery or have a history….
Continue ReadingScience 1, Common Sense 0
Common sense says that putting stents into blocked arteries in the brain should help prevent strokes, just like propping open heart arteries cuts heart attacks. But Medicare asked for a scientific study before it started paying for widespread use of the brain stents. So doctors tested stents versus medical therapy in high-risk patients. After one….
Continue ReadingStudy Says Stop-Smoking Drug Carries Cardiovascular Risk
A drug prescribed for smoking cessation is linked to an increased risk of heart problems, according to a study published July 4 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Varenicline, known by the brand name Chantix, was associated with a 72% increased risk of a serious cardiovascular “event.” That sounds huge, but the scientific number-crunching shakes….
Continue ReadingSharing safety data among hospitals is shown to cut injury rate
Here’s a new research finding that is encouraging but discouraging at the same time for patient safety. After 16 Michigan hospitals began to share patient safety information, surgical complication rates dropped by nearly 10 percent, according to a recent study. That’s encouraging, of course. The disquieting piece is why it would take a major research….
Continue ReadingEight years on, diet drug Meridia withdrawn from market
A diet drug which safety advocates called to be withdrawn from public use eight years ago has finally bit the dust. Under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration, the drug’s manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, voluntarily pulled the drug from the market due to longstanding concerns that it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes…..
Continue ReadingRadiation Overdoses and Regulatory Ineptness
When is a radiation overdose not an overdose? When the facility giving the CT scans says so. At least that’s what the Food and Drug Administration concluded when it dropped a safety investigation of the Huntsville, Alabama Hospital. Now the FDA, which monitors radiation safety for the medical industry, is considering re-starting its investigation, once….
Continue ReadingStroke Treatment: Wider Window for Giving Clot-Busting Drugs
Stroke experts have widened the window for when the clot-busting drug tPA can be given intravenously. The previous U.S. guideline was to give the drug only if treatment could be started within three hours of the onset of symptoms. Many patients did not get the drug because they didn’t get to the hospital in time….
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