Word: clots
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Strokes afflict 600,000 Americans each year. In 80% of cases the culprit is some kind of clot that obstructs the flow of blood through an artery. But for a variety of reasons, blood-starved brain cells don't die right away. If the offending clot is broken up quickly enough, normal blood flow is restored and the brain is spared...
Whereas traditional drug companies focus on developing chemical compounds, the biotech industry prefers to use biological ones--hormones, proteins and other substances that either already exist in the body or can be created from scratch. Examples include interferon, the clot buster tPA and the new breast-cancer drug Herceptin...
...treatment for heart attacks developed 30 years ago and then largely abandoned may cut death rates as much as two-thirds when used in conjunction with today's clot-busting drugs and angioplasty. The findings are still preliminary, but the treatment is simple: within 24 hours of a heart attack, patients are put on an IV containing sugar, insulin and potassium...
What the disc won't do is calculate your risk of developing uterine cancer or a blood clot. (Researchers hope to add that feature in coming months, so be sure to get on the mailing list for upgrades.) Nor can it tell you when to start taking tamoxifen. Some researchers believe that taking the drug for five years will lower your risk for the rest of your life, but that hasn't been proved. "The disc can't give you all the information you need to make a decision," says Dr. Barnett Kramer, deputy director of cancer prevention...
...Genentech backed the idea. At the time, European researchers had reported that the biotech company's clot-busting drug, TPA, worked no better, yet cost far more, than the standard clot buster. If TPA was to survive, it had to quantify its benefits to insurers. With a fortune on the line, Genentech turned to Califf. Within two years, Califf and the Cleveland Clinic organized a network that enrolled 41,000 patients. Conclusion: compared with the standard drug, TPA saved more than 2,000 lives a year...