Fenfluramines cause heart valve problems!
As the WSJ article today reported, further data from the five centers that provided the initial reports on the 291 patient report have provided data from "several hundred more patients" on the diet pills (no distribution on who took what) for an average of one year, which substantiates the 30+% of valvular changes.Other highlights from the article reports AHP very vocal and active in challenging the validity of the data, that one of the centers is beginning a control group study (although this will take a few month to compile and analyze.
However, also mentioned was reports from a Bakersfield Ca. cardiologists who is providing data from 70 of his own patients to the FDA, in which he prescribed the diet pills for patients who had been given echo's before starting the drugs (as part of their cardiac workup, not because he was beginning the pills), and found NO evidence of valvular disease on subsequent echo's.......it further noted that none of his patients were prescribed the drugs for more than 6 months.
Finally, additional anecdotal evidence is coming in to suggest that valvular abnormalities, at least detectable abnormalities, are reversing following cessation of the drugs. Dr. Jack Crary, who co-wrote the NEJM article which "broke the news" on the diet pill-heart valve correlation said that his experience so far is that the trouble clears up......He was quoted as saying " Moderate, even severe cases seem to improve or reverse themselves- so I'm very hopeful", although he further added," The bigger question is what's going to happen in five, 10 or 15 years. If these valves are mildly damaged, will they develope problems later?"
From all I have read, my very rudimentary theory is the fenfluramines do cause a reversible valvular change......in some fashion, the action of the seratonin levels while reducing in the brain apparently increases in the bloodstream ( guess the stuff has to go somewhere), and in some manner causing a deposition of some form of material on the aortic valve and creating a mechanical blockage to the proper movement of the valve.........and it a time related mechanism, ie the longer on the pill, the greater the buildup ( why it hasn't been reported in Europe as timeframe usage in Europe is much shorter, why it did not show up in the patients of the Bakersfield cardiologists, and why Pondimin would be prevalently implicated as it has been available here longer )......but this buildup stops with cessation of the drug, and the buildup slowly dissolves........and like cholesterol, does not damage the area of deposition, but create a mechanical block ( narrows the arterial channel, or gets in the way of valve movement)........and once you lower the blood serum seratonin by cessation of the drug, no more deposition and eventual dissolution of the buildup.........also kind of like gout, where higher bloodstream levels of uric acid creates a sedimentation effect of the mineral in tissues.
Meanwhile, after this article, IPICis up a bit today so far......like paul001 just wrote "ipic holding up (strange IMO)" |
