Medical: June 2009 Archives

University of Pennsylvania doctor Gary D. Kao defended the quality of the brachytherapy radiation program he said he established and led at the hospital in a "field" hearing of the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Monday.  In brachytherapy, physicians permanently implant in a prostate from 80 to 120 tiny metal "seeds" that emit radiation over a 10-month period. If improperly placed, the seeds can damage nearby organs while delivering less-than-optimal doses of radiation to the prostate. 

A NRC medical expert "noted that the seed placement in the cases reviewed was quite erratic and not consistent with current medical standards."  Ongoing investigations by the VA and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees medical use of radioactive materials, found that 57 of the patients were under dosed. Another 35 patients got too much radiation to nearby tissues and organs, including 25 whose rectums received potentially dangerous doses.  

Excerpted from Philly.com.

Toxicology expert Dr. Daniel McCoy testified Friday that Ali Eichhorst, charged in the 2006 fatal traffic crash near Linton, IN, had a blood/alcohol level of .22 percent at the time.  Both occupants in the vehicle involved were intoxicated more than twice the legal state limit, according to testimony given in a Greene Superior Court case on Friday morning.

Eichhorst, 21, is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing a death and operating a vehicle while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .08 gram of alcohol in blood or breath resulting in death -- both class C felonies. The case is now under deliberation by a 12-person jury.

Excerpted from GCDailyWorld.

Five time NASCAR Sprint Cup winner Jeremy Mayfield was indefinitely suspended last month after failing the organization's random drug testing.  Penn State professor Dr. Charles Yesalis, a leading drug testing expert in sports says Nashville-based Aegis Sciences Corporation is "highly reliable regarding the risk of a false positive.  Any of this is only as good as the people doing the test. So if you have a bunch of incompetent boobs like some other labs have had, the results can be (arguable). But if you have a good lab like David's, the risk of a false positive is very, very, very low."

However, Yesalis does not agree with drivers not being given a list of banned substances. How can drivers be suspended for taking something if they don't know what is on the list?  NASCAR officials said every driver has been tested at least once this year.

Excerpted from Tennessean.com.

Australian medical expert, Professor Booy states that although the spread of the influenza  virus H1N1 around the world has revealed it is not as deadly as initially feared, it should not be underestimated.  PattayaDailyNews reports:

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the outbreak to be a "pandemic" on June 11, it was at pains to point out that this was because of the global "spread of the virus," not its severity. The countries of the Developed World should have no problem containing the virus, though the WHO is more concerned about countries in the Developing World, with limited resources, poor health care, few hospitals and a high prevalence of underlying medical problems. The WHO also said in a recent report, however, the new virus 'appears to be more contagious than seasonal influenza' and that nearly everyone in the world lacks immunity against the new disease. The report added that the new H1N1 flu virus has the potential to unpredictably mutate into a more virulent form, resulting in a pandemic that may circle the globe in at least two or even three waves.

Toxicology expert Dr. David Black is the only person who can put his stamp of approval on the return of one of NASCAR's top drivers, Jeremy Mayfield.  Mayfield, a 40-year-old driver from Owensboro, Ky., who has five wins in the Sprint Cup series, was indefinitely suspended last month after failing a drug test.  Black is the founder and CEO of Nashville-based Aegis Sciences Corporation which does all the testing for NASCAR, and Mayfield became the first Sprint Cup driver to have a positive result under the organization's random drug testing policy that was implemented this season.  Tennessean.com reports:

"In my case, I believe that the combination of a prescribed medicine and an over-the-counter medicine reacted together and resulted in a positive drug test," Mayfield said in a statement...

"No, that's not possible," said Black, who declined to say what drug was found. "We have a strong policy and we have a clear violation of the program. The interpretation of the test result does not leave room for doubt or misunderstanding."

AstraZeneca seems to be winning its war against the 10,000 plaintiffs who claim Seroquel causes weight gain and diabetes.  A judge ruled that there was not enough evidence that Seroquel triggered a woman's diabetes because she was already unhealthy by the time she started taking the drug. In Thursday’s case, Judge Joseph Slights III ruled that a medical expert could not say that Nina Scaife's diabetes was specifically caused by the drug.

• AZ has won two summary judgments and a third was withdrawn.
• In Delaware, 108 cases have been dismissed (about 15 percent).
• In the federal multidistrict litigation, 1,881 cases (about 23 percent) have been dismissed either by the judge or by plaintiffs themselves.

AZ is also winning the war in the marketplace: sales of Seroquel rose roughly 10% in the first quarter of 2009 to $1.1 billion despite publicity surrounding the drug.

Excerpted from Bnet.com.

Brandon Hampson, 39, will try to use the "Zoloft defense" in his Nassau County domestic violence case.  Accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Hampson hopes a Pfizer Inc. medical expert will opine in his defense that the pill or withdrawal from it spurs violence in some users.  Judge Rhonda Fischer will rule in First District Court on a prosecution motion challenging her decision to allow testimony by the defense witness for Pfizer Inc.

Arthur Caplan, a University of Pennsylvania medical ethics expert, said having Jacobs testify is a problem, given his payments from Pfizer.  "When you get into a position where you're being asked to comment on a drug made by a manufacturer who pays you, that poses an ethics problem," Caplan said.

Excerpted from newsday.com.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of a New Hampshire man believed to have drowned in Lake Winnipesaukee after falling overboard from the MS Mount Washington has been settled out of court.  Karen Sylvestre argued that the owners and employees of the Winnipesaukee Flagship Co. were negligent in causing the death of her husband, 45-year-old James Nelson Sylvestre but the defense medical expert opined that because of Sylvestre's high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and weight, Sylvestre could have suffered a stroke and fallen overboard.

Sylvestre was attending a party in October 2006 when he went overboard. His body was not found until nearly a year later.

Excerpted from ConcordMonitorOnline.