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Stroke Drug May Prevent Dialysis Catheter Infections
Posted 27 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26 – Replacing the commonly used blood-thinner heparin with a clot-dissolving stroke drug in dialysis catheters once a week may reduce the incidence of catheter malfunctions and infections, according to new research. Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) is a medication normally used to break up stroke-causing clots in the brain. However, when researchers used this drug in dialysis catheters instead of heparin after one of three dialysis sessions a week, the rate of catheter malfunction dropped from 35 percent to 20 percent. In addition, the infection rate was 4.5 percent in the group that received rt-PA compared to 13 percent for the group treated only with heparin. "With rt-PA we could reduce the rates of catheter malfunction by about 50 percent and infections by almost two-thirds," said the study's lead author, Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn, an associate professor ... Read more
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New Anti-Clotting Treatment Urged for Cancer Patients
Posted 13 Feb 2009 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Feb. 13 – The blood thinner warfarin does not reduce catheter-related blood clots in cancer patients, so new treatments are needed to prevent this complication, says a U.K. study. About 50 percent of cancer patients develop venous thromboembolism, which can be caused by a number of factors, including the use of central venous catheters to deliver infusional chemotherapy, according to background information in the study. The use of warfarin with the catheters to prevent clotting is controversial because there's no clear evidence that it's effective. The study included 1,590 cancer patients at 68 centers who were receiving chemotherapy through central venous catheters. The patients were randomly selected to receive either no warfarin, a fixed dose of 1 milligram of warfarin a day or dose-adjusted warfarin daily. Overall, rates of catheter-related blood clots were the same (6 ... Read more
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