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Will unpredictable side effects dim the promise of new Alzheimer ’s drugs?
A sea change is underway in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, where for the first time a drug that targets the disease’s pathology and clearly slows cognitive decline has hit the U.S. market. A related therapy will likely be approved in the coming months. As many neurologists, patients, and brain scientists celebrate, they’re also nervously eyeing complications from treatment: brain swelling and bleeding, which in clinical trials affected up to about one-third of patients and ranged from asymptomatic to fatal. The side effect—amyloid-related imaging abnormalities, or ARIA—remains mysterious. “We don’...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - August 2, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Statins are 'safe, effective and should be used more widely'
Conclusion This study reviews evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies to better evaluate the effects and safety of statin therapy. It provides valuable data on the size of the benefits compared with the risks, informing a topic that has had much media coverage in recent times. The researchers highlight that the benefits of statin therapy for people at risk of cardiovascular disease events far outweigh any possible side effects. But it is still for a doctor and their patient to come to a conclusion about what the best treatment for them may be. If you have been prescribed a statin, it...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 9, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Medication Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Special MRI scan could identify stroke risk in people with atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of people. It can make you feel lousy. Even worse, it can cause potentially disabling or deadly strokes. A special MRI scan may — I stress the “may” — help identify people with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of having a stroke. This could help many people with this condition to avoid taking warfarin or other clot-preventing medications for life. A normal heartbeat starts in a cluster of cells called the pacemaker. It sits in the heart’s upper right chamber (the right atrium). These cells generate a pulse of electricity that...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 28, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Howard LeWine, M.D. Tags: Heart Health atrial fibrillation MRI prevention special MRI scan Stroke Stroke Risk Source Type: news

Hospitalization after fainting can do more harm than good
One morning not long ago, my teenage daughter started to black out. After an ambulance ride to our local hospital’s emergency department, an electrocardiogram, and some bloodwork, she was sent home with a follow-up doctor appointment. We got the good news that Alexa is perfectly healthy, but should avoid getting too hungry or thirsty so she doesn’t faint again. And I’m feeling lucky that she didn’t need to be hospitalized, because a research letter in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine points out that hospitalization for low-risk fainting can do more harm than good. Doctors use something called th...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Heidi Godman Tags: Health fainting San Francisco Syncope Rule Source Type: news

UCLA study shows promise, offers hope for brain hemorrhage patients
A new endoscopic surgical procedure has been shown to be safer and to result in better outcomes than the current standard medical treatment for patients who suffer strokes as a result of brain hemorrhages, UCLA neurosurgeons have announced.   The findings from their potentially groundbreaking, randomized, controlled phase 2 clinical trial, which was conducted at multiple medical centers, were presented last week at the International Stroke Conference in Honolulu.   "These exciting results offer a glimmer of hope for a condition that most doctors have traditionally considered hopeless," said principal investigator...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 11, 2013 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news