Word: isotretinoin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last week brought the first modest success story in this new field of "chemo-prevention." Dr. Waun Ki Hong and colleagues from the University of Texas in Houston reported evidence that some cancers can be thwarted by isotretinoin, a man-made derivative of vitamin A that is sold as an anti-acne medication under the brand name Accutane. Fifty patients who had been successfully treated for cancer of the mouth and throat were given large daily doses of the drug for 12 months. After as much as three years, only two (4%) of the subjects developed a new cancer...
Doctors point out that isotretinoin is hardly a benign drug. In addition to causing side effects ranging from dry, scaly skin to high levels of fat in the bloodstream, the drug is believed to have triggered hundreds of birth defects when it was taken by pregnant women during the early 1980s...
| 1 |