Errors Occur Frequently In Outpatient Cancer Treatments

Seven percent of adults and 19 percent of children undergoing chemotherapy treatment in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dosage of medication or experienced other medical mishaps according to a recent study.

The investigation led by Kathleen E. Walsh, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and published in the January 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"As cancer care continues to shift from the hospital to the outpatient setting, the complexity of care is increasing, as is the potential for medication errors, particularly in the outpatient and home settings," says. Walsh.

An analysis of data on nearly 1,300 patient visits at three adult oncology outpatient clinics and 117 visits at one pediatric facility between Sept. 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006 showed that errors in medication were more common than previously reported by oncology patients.

Of the 90 medication errors involving adults, 55 had the potential to harm the patient and 11 did cause harm. The errors included administration of incorrect medication doses due to confusion over conflicting orders - one written at the time of diagnosis and the other on the day of administration.

Patients were also harmed by over-hydration prior to administration of medication, resulting in pulmonary edema and recurrent complaints of abdominal pain and constipation.

More than 50 percent of errors involving adults were in clinic administration, 28 percent in ordering of medications, and 7 percent in use of the drugs in patients' homes.

About 40 percent of the 22 medication errors in children could have potentially severely harmed with four children needing medical attention. The study further revealed that more than 70 percent of the errors involving children occurred at home.

Examples of pediatric errors included parents giving the wrong dose or the wrong number of doses per day of medicines because of a caregiver's confusion about instructions.

Popular Class Of Osteoporosis Drug May Be Linked To Throat Cancer and Jaw Disorder

The Food and Drug Administration is warning there may be a link between taking a popular osteoporosis drug and the development of cancer of the esophagus.

Diane Wysowski of the FDA wrote in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that the agency has received 23 reports of people developing esophageal cancer between 1995, the year Fosamax debuted, and 2008. Of those patients, eight have died, Wysowski said.

The report did not link other bisphosphonates, like Boniva, Actonel and Didronel, to the disease, however, another recent study linked the class of drugs to a rare jaw bone disorder.

The study by the University of Southern California School of Dentistry, reported that there may be a higher risk than previously thought between taking bisphosphonates and developing osteonecrosis - a disorder where the jaw doesn't heal after trauma.

In December, the American Dental Association reported that patients taking bisphosphonates had a low risk of developing osteonecrosis.

Study Says Regular Use Of Paracetmol Will Have More Chances to Be Affected By Asthma

People who regularly use paracetamol are at three fold risk of having asthma, a new research has found.

Study author Dr. Seif Shaheen from Imperial College London and team questioned over 500 adults with asthma and over 500 people without asthma about the use of painkillers. Taking paracetamol weekly increases the risk of asthma three-fold, research has found.

When the study was conducted on children, it was found that those given the painkiller for fever in the first year of life had a 46 percent increased risk of asthma by the age of six or seven.

Analysis of current use in 103,000 children showed those who had used paracetamol more than once a month in the past year had a three-fold increased risk of asthma. The use of paracetamol was also associated with more severe asthma symptoms as well as the increased risk of eczema and hayfever five years later.

Experts said parents should still use the drug for high temperatures. The drug reduces levels of 'glutathione' in the lungs, which is needed to defend the delicate airways against damage from pollution and smoke, study says.

The same effect was not seen for other painkillers and experts have called for more research into the link.

FDA - Approved Degarelix as the New Prostate Cancer Drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug that treats advanced prostate cancer offering an additional option for treating the disease mostly afflicting men.

The federal agency said Monday the injectable degarelix of Parsippany, New Jersey-based Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. slows the growth and progression of prostate cancer by suppressing testosterone hormones. But unlike existing prostate cancer drugs, degarelix does not initially stimulate testosterone production before decreasing the amount of the hormone, a reaction which prompts rather than prevent tumor growth.

Clinical trials of the new drug has shown that testosterone levels of prostate cancer patients who took the drug are the same as those whose testes have been removed as part of the treatment of the disease.

Prostate cancer ranks as the second leading cause of cancer deaths among American men. In 2004, an estimated 29,000 American men from the 190,000 diagnosed with the disease died.

Study Says That Memory Can Be Developed By Exercise

Exercising to maintain healthy blood sugar levels could be a way of staving off lapses in memory that get more common as people age.

Scientists blame rising blood glucose levels -- in part -- for many age-related memory problems.

This is even true for people without diabetes, researchers of a new study say.

"This is news even for people without diabetes since blood glucose levels tend to rise as we grow older. Whether through physical exercise, diet or drugs, our research suggests that improving glucose metabolism could help some of us avert the cognitive slide that occurs in many of us as we age," lead investigator Dr. Scott A. Small, associate professor of neurology in the Sergievsky Center and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center, said in a statement.

Small said exercise is effective in lowering blood sugar, and it is beneficial to the part of the brain responsible for memory, the hippocampus

Worlds Youngest Man to Receive the Worlds Smallest Heart Pump

St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver had a medical milestone last weekend: 13-year-old Sikander Sakota surviving a potentially fatal heart disease, when he became the youngest patient in the world to receive the world's smallest heart pump.

Sahota started feeling ill last Saturday and was diagnosed with viral myocarditis, an infection that destroys heart muscle. A heart pump was inserted into his groin and threaded into his heart. From there, the pump began helping his heart push blood.

The pump stayed in the boy's heart and was removed after two days. Sahota described the procedure as "painful and strange."

Sahota's recovery is expected to take about two weeks, and was immediately advised that he is okay to play soccer again.

Cancer Wont Be prevented by Vitamins Alone

Taking supplements of vitamins rich in antioxidants will not prevent cancer development, according to a new Harvard University study.

The study looked at 8,171 women who were taking a supplement, a combination of supplements or a placebo, the Washington Post reported. The supplements were 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 600 International Units of vitamin E, and 50 milligrams every-other-day of beta carotene.

The women were all over the age of 40, and took part in the study from 1995 until 2005. All the women either had cardiovascular disease, or were at risk for it. A total of 624 developed cancer and 176 died from it.

The results led researchers to conclude that taking the supplements neither prevented nor increased the women's chances of getting cancer. The odds of developing cancer were no different from the women taking the supplements than they were for those taking the placebos, according to the study.

The study's lead researcher, assistant professor Jennifer Lin, said one reason the vitamins were ineffective, is that these women were well-nourished, and that supplements could be more effective in people who are not getting enough nourishment from their diets.

Andrew Shao, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs with the supplement trade group, Council for Responsible Nutrition, had some issues with the study.

He said the study may not have gone on long enough, and it was too narrowly focused, with the average age of the women being 60, and that they all either had or were at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Shao told WebMD that he agreed that vitamins alone should not be viewed as anti-cancer drugs, but are something that should be incorporated into their lifestyles.

The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.