The Year In Medicine From A to Z

(10 of 11)

In recent years, the use of stents has allowed millions of heart patients to put off open-heart surgery and buy a few more years of life. But reports on patients outfitted with the latest form of stents, which are coated with a drug that fights scar formation, show that the tiny pieces of metal scaffolding may increase the risk of potentially deadly blood clots in the heart. For now, doctors still believe that the benefits of the stents outweigh the small chance of clot formation, especially for patients who have just had a heart attack. Stents inserted in the first 12 hours after an attack (preferably within the first 90 minutes) had the best chance of restoring blood flow and preserving heart muscle.

STRESS

When you take your work  home with you, the whole family feels the effects--especially your kids. A Canadian study analyzed the employment history and psychosocial work conditions of nearly 30,000 sawmill workers and found that there was a direct correlation between the stress fathers felt on the job and their children's mental health. The most striking result: 252 of the approximately 20,000 children in the survey whose fathers had stressful jobs attempted or committed suicide from 1985 to 2001. Girls were more likely to attempt suicide when their fathers had little control over their work; boys when fathers had jobs that didn't last long and demanded a lot of them psychologically. 252 OF 20,000

Number of children in a survey whose fathers had a stressful job who attempted or committed suicide between 1985 and 2001

SUDAFED

If you have tried browsing your local drugstore shelf for a box of Sudafed to clear up those autumn sniffles, you may have discovered that it's MIA. One of its active ingredients is pseudoephedrine, widely used in backyard labs to make methamphetamine. Several states had already ordered pseudoephedrine off pharmacy shelves, but in October the Federal Government expanded those rules and put them into effect across the country. Now allergy suffers looking for relief have to ask a pharmacist or salesclerk for their Sudafed, show photo ID and sign a logbook. Unfortunately, the most common alternative, phenylephrine, isn't as effective.

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VACCINE

In June the FDA approved a vaccine to protect against cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women. The vaccine, called Gardasil, immunizes against four of the most prevalent strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection and the cause of 70% of cervical-cancer cases. Because the vaccine is most effective when administered before girls become sexually active, a government committee recommended that it be given routinely to girls ages 11 and 12--which immediately triggered cries of alarm from pro-abstinence groups that feared doing so would encourage promiscuity. Some health advocates were also worried that women might see the vaccine as a substitute for yearly screenings like Pap smears.

VIRGINITY