risk

A group of already-vulnerable patients are facing yet another trauma as a wave of implantable heart device recalls hits the market. According Newsday, the FDA has targeted more than 300,000 such devices within the past 18 months alone, the majority of which came from Boston Scientific's Guidant. In some cases, it won't be necessary for doctors to remove the device, but others must go through additional surgery and risk to get the implant out of their body. Generally speaking, …

The emergency care system is at risk from a severe labor shortage, says a new report from SUNY Albany. Both RNs and emergency medicine docs are in short supply, and while there seem to be enough EMTs, turnover is extremely high. Executive summary and full report (.pdfs)

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that patients who have surgery to replace potentially faulty defibrillators recalled by Guidant and Medtronic last year may actually be at more risk than those who leave them in. Researchers looked at data on so-called "explant" surgeries at Canadian hospitals after the recalls and found that 5.9 percent of patients developed complications considered "serious." Three patients died. In contrast, the risk of …

A major study presented at the annual conference of the American College of Cardiology this weekend has created an uproar. The research finds that people who take the heart drug Plavix along with an Aspirin to decrease their chances of having a first heart attack are at risk of developing serious bleeding. The study examined a population of 15,000 subjects. Because earlier findings had suggested Plavix could have an excellent protective effect, the drug is commonly prescribed by …

The latest Vioxx trial opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Monday. Houston lawyer W. Mark Lanier hopes to repeat last year's win in a Texas courtroom. Thomas Cona of Cherry Hill blames his heart attack on the painkiller, as does fellow plaintiff John McDarby. Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in 2004 after a study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes if taken for an eighteen month. The drugmaker is expected to argue that neither Cona or McDarby took the drug …

ADHD drugs
The FDA said is considering issuing warnings about possible safety risks associated with two commonly prescribed ADHD drugs. An FDA advisory panel meets today to evaluate evidence linking drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to increased risk of death and other serious side effects. The controversy over ADHD medications has grown over the last few years, as new evidence has emerged suggesting they may increase health risks. Article

New research finds that serious medication errors are more likely in hospital radiology departments than in any other hospital setting. The study, which was released today by United States Pharmacopeia, concludes that errors that lead to patient harm are seven times more common in radiology than in other departments. A number of factors are said to contribute to the higher rate of risk. For instance, patients often receive dangerous drugs, dyes and blood thinners. Radiology departments …

Despite the fact that patient "handoffs" are common as patients move from doctor to doctor within the healthcare system, few clinicians have formal training in the finer points and possible pitfalls involved. A team led by Indiana School of Medicine professor Richard Frankel found that the safest form of transfer is a "face-to-face" meeting which, of course, rarely happens anymore. Frankel argues that handoffs represent a little noticed but real risk, posing the potential for serious …

According to The New York Times, the growing popularity of carotid stents as an alternative to non-invasive techniques for the treatment of carotid blockages is raising questions. The procedure, which won FDA approval last year, is generally portrayed by device companies and surgeons as a low-risk operation. New data calls that argument into question. Critics like Northwestern University's Dr. Mark J. Albert also wonder if the procedure is driving healthcare costs up and …

New research by a company in Iceland has uncovered a previously unknown genetic variation which may be responsible for the disparity between the rate of heart attacks in the African-American community and other demographic groups in the US. A team at deCODE led by Dr. Ana Helgadottir found that African-Americans with the variant gene are 250 percent more likely to have heart attacks. The company proposes a stage III clinical trial for an experimental therapy it has developed, which it …