Our weekly roundup of the latest developments in the world of health. This week we look at a new drug option for women who've had breast cancer, at how many heart attack patients may be getting too much blood-thinning medicine, and at the rising number of accidental poisonings from a common over-the-counter painkiller.
Stay well.
This Issue:
New Breast Cancer Drug Blood Thinner OD Acetaminophen Poisoning In the News:
New Breast Cancer Drug Postmenopausal women have a new option to prevent early-stage breast cancer from returning. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Femara -- a drug already approved for women with advanced breast cancer -- to prevent cancer recurrence after surgery in postmenopausal women, The Associated Press reports. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Femara did a better job than tamoxifen -- currently the standard treatment -- at preventing cancer recurrence after menopause. In the study -- which was based on two years' worth of relapse information from 8,000 women in the United States, Europe and Australia -- 84% of women taking Femara were alive and cancer free five years after starting treatment, compared to 81% of women taking tamoxifen. The study was funded by the company that manufactures Femara, the AP says. Femara joins another drug, Arimidex, as newly approved medications for early breast cancer. Both are members of a new drug class, called aromatase inhibitors; they fight breast cancer by blocking production of estrogen, which fuels the tumor growth. These drugs are not believed to be effective for premenopausal women, and tamoxifen will still be the first-choice drug for them, the AP says.
Blood Thinner OD
Many heart attack patients are getting too much blood-thinning medication, which can increase their risk of dangerous bleeding. A study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association finds that close to half of heart attack patients are given overdoses of blood-thinning drugs in the emergency room, and this significantly increased their risk of major bleeding compared to patients who got the recommended dose. The study looked at more than 30,000 patients treated at 387 U.S. hospitals. Researchers found that 42% of the patients were given excessive doses of blood thinners, with thin people, women and patients with kidney problems the most likely to be overmedicated. The patients who got too much of the newer blood thinners, such as low molecular weight heparin and "super aspirin," had a 30% greater risk of serious bleeding compared to those who got appropriate amounts of medication. They also had slightly longer hospital stays and higher death rates, The Associated Press reports. The researchers estimate that overall, 15% of bleeding episodes in heart attack patients, including excessive bleeding at catheter sites, bleeding from stomach ulcers and bleeding in the brain, are caused by overdoses of blood thinners, the AP says.
Acetaminophen Poisoning
A popular over-the-counter painkiller is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States. A recent study that tracked 662 people treated for acute liver failure at 22 transplant centers found that overall, almost half of cases were related to acetaminophen poisoning -- some were suicide attempts, but even more were accidental, The Associated Press reports. Broken down by year, the researchers found that the rate of liver failure cases that could be blamed on acetaminophen is rising, from 28% in 1998 to 51% in 2003, the AP says. Acetaminophen -- the active ingredient in the over-the-counter pain reliever Tylenol -- is very safe when taken in recommended doses. But many people take too much of the drug, either believing it is harmless, or unknowingly taking multiple products that contain acetaminophen at the same time, such as a flu medication and a painkiller, the researchers say. Experts recommend that adults take no more than 4,000 milligrams of acetaminophen per day from any source, the AP says. The researchers warn that a doubling of this maximum daily dose could kill you. Their recommendation: Read all prescription and nonprescription drug labels before taking them, and add up all the acetaminophen to be sure it is no more than 4,000 mg. People who are already more vulnerable to liver problems because they regularly use alcohol or have hepatitis should take less -- no more than 2,000 to 3,000 milligrams daily, according to one of the study's authors.
Used with the permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. The above summaries are not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor are they intended to be a substitute for consultation with a physician.
