April 09, 2021
One of the first papers to document the rare thrombotic events seen in Austria and Germany involving a form of thrombocytopenia after inoculation with the vaccine jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca has now been published in the
New England Journal of Medicine, accompanied by a brief report confirming similar findings in a Norwegian cohort.
Taken together the papers show a clear link between this particular vaccine and the ”clotting abnormalities” that have led countries around the world to pause or revise their plans for the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca product. Critically, say authors, the reports also point the way for definitive testing with widely available tests that would permit affected patients to be swiftly identified and treated, potentially averting serious thrombotic events.
March 08, 2021
Over the long term, patients who survive an aortic dissection appear to do just as well treated with either beta-blockers or ACE inhibitors/ARBs rather than other antihypertensive drugs, a retrospective analysis suggests.
Compared with other drug classes, beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors/ARBs each were associated with lower risks of all-cause hospital readmission and all-cause mortality over a span of up to 12 years, according to researchers led by Shao-Wei Chen, MD, PhD (Linkou Medical Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan).
There were no differences for any outcomes which also included death due to aortic aneurysm or dissection, later aortic operation, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, and new-onset dialysis when those two medication groups were compared with each other.