Blood Clot News and Research

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A Blood Clot is a mass of blood that forms when blood platelets, proteins, and cells stick together. When a blood clot is attached to the wall of a blood vessel, it is called a thrombus. When it moves through the bloodstream and blocks the flow of blood in another part of the body, it is called an embolus.

Death rate linked to comtaminated heparin almost doubles

The drug watchdog in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have updated the number of deaths in patients who took the drug heparin.

17 Jun 2008

New medical equipment tested to extremes

New medical equipment recently delivered to the Antarctic station Concordia will help understand how our bodies physically adapt to this extreme environment - knowledge which could help prepare for a future human mission to Mars. ESA is currently looking for a candidate with a medical background to support projects at the research base.

15 Jun 2008

Women, Latinos face higher brain aneurysm risk

A type of stroke that can strike at any age, and kills one-third of its victims, appears to be more common in women and Mexican-Americans than in non-Hispanic white men, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Stroke Program.

15 Jun 2008

Anti-estrogen drug therapy reduces risk of invasive breast cancer in older women

New analysis of a drug approved for osteoporosis prevention and treatment has provided definitive evidence that the medication is also effective as a breast cancer preventative for certain cancers.

11 Jun 2008

Reduced incidence of invasive breast cancer with Raloxifene among women at increased coronary risk

Women who took raloxifene were less likely to develop invasive estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer compared with women who did not, according to data from a randomized controlled trial published online June 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The drug did not reduce the risk of non-invasive cancer or invasive ER-negative cancers.

11 Jun 2008

Maxygen receives approval for trial of factor VIIa in UK

Maxygen, Inc. today announced that it has filed a Clinical Trial Authorization (CTA) and received the necessary approvals in the United Kingdom to initiate a first-in-human Phase I trial of MAXY-VII in hemophilia patients.

11 Jun 2008

CSL Behring study shows extended half-life recombinant VIIa leads to longer biologic activity

CSL Behring today presented results of a pre-clinical study that not only demonstrates the feasibility of genetically fusing factor VIIa to human albumin, but that this therapeutic protein with a prolonged half-life can lead to a longer biologic effect.

3 Jun 2008

Less than 1 in 5 patients receive treatment to prevent venous thrombosis after surgery

Fewer than 1 in 5 patients received post-discharge therapy to prevent life-threatening blood clots - venous thrombosis - after hip- or knee-replacement surgery, report Rahme and colleagues in a retrospective cohort study. Venous thrombosis is one of the leading causes of death among hospital patients. However, elderly patients have a 70% lower chance of dying within 3 months if they take an anticoagulant drug to prevent blood clots.

2 Jun 2008

Short-term exposure to air pollution may increase risk of stroke or mini-stroke

Short-term exposure to low levels of particulate air pollution may increase the risk of stroke or mini-stroke, according to findings that suggest current exposure standards could be insufficient to protect the public.

2 Jun 2008

Appeals courts overturn two verdicts, judgment on award payment in Vioxx lawsuits

State appeals courts in New Jersey and Texas on Thursday reversed two jury verdicts and a judgment on payment of legal fees in lawsuits related to the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx that would have required Merck to pay about $37 million, Bloomberg/Washington Post reports (Van Voris/Voreacos, Bloomberg/Washington Post, 5/30).

30 May 2008

Avoiding spleen removal for Cooley's anemia sufferers

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College may have discovered the precise role of a gene in one of the world's most common blood disorders, beta-thalassemia, commonly known as Cooley's anemia. Along with sickle-cell anemia, Cooley's anemia is the most commonly inherited disease in the world, affecting many people of Mediterranean descent, and 20 out of every 100,000 African-Americans. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000-100,000 children are born with the disease each year.

27 May 2008

Blood cholesterol levels predict risk of heart disease due to hormone therapy

A new analysis of a subgroup of participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) hormone therapy clinical trials suggests that healthy, postmenopausal women whose blood cholesterol levels are normal or lower are not at increased, short-term risk for heart attack when taking hormone therapy.

26 May 2008

Two Penn studies show drug-eluting stents outperform bare metal stents

The more than ten million Americans who've received drug-eluting stents to open their blocked coronary arteries have a bright future, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

22 May 2008

Reducing blockage fails to improve access to the bloodstream for kidney dialysis

Reducing early blockages in bloodstream access for kidney failure treatment does not increase the likelihood that the access will function adequately for long-term treatments, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results were published May 14, 2008, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

22 May 2008

New lifesaving options come to Rochester for stroke

While Superbowl Sunday started out like any other Sunday for Webster resident Christine Skolnick, by kick-off time, things clearly went from bad to worse for the 42-year-old mother of two. An apparent stomach virus and mild headache at midday had, by 6 p.m., become deadly, as Skolnick's face drooped on her right side, and she had difficulty moving her right legs and arms.

20 May 2008

Making sense of the data in a controversial trial of a "clot-busting drug" for treating stroke

In December 1995, a highly controversial trial was published, which tested a clot-busting drug called rt-PA (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator) in patients who had suffered an acute stroke.

20 May 2008

Chemically modified protein may help people with hard-to-treat hemophilia

Pathologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have developed a chemically modified protein that may help people with a hard-to-treat form of a genetic bleeding disorder known as Hemophilia A. The discovery and the results of pre-clinical tests appear in the May 2 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

19 May 2008

Minocycline may find new life as a stroke treatment

An old intravenous antibiotic may have new life as a stroke treatment, researchers say. Minocycline appears to reduce stroke damage in multiple ways - inhibiting white blood cells and enzymes that, at least acutely, can destroy brain tissue and blood vessels, respectively, says Dr. David Hess, chair of the Department of Neurology in the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine.

19 May 2008

An improved gene therapy agent from University of Florida

Replacing one amino acid on the surface of a virus that shepherds corrective genes into cells could be the breakthrough scientists have needed to make gene therapy a more viable option for treating genetic diseases such as hemophilia, University of Florida researchers say.

19 May 2008

Erection problems may signal serious heart disease

Erectile dysfunction is always a matter of the heart, but new research shows that more than romance is at stake. Two new studies of men with type 2 diabetes found that erectile dysfunction (ED) was a powerful early warning sign for serious heart disease, including heart attack and death.

19 May 2008