Fraudulent Data May Have Led to Use of Risky Treatment in ICUs - MedicineNet

Fraudulent Data May Have Led to Use of Risky Treatment in ICUs - MedicineNet
 
TUESDAY, Feb. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Studies loaded with fraudulent data may have encouraged the use of a treatment for patients in intensive care units that now appears to do more harm than good, new research shows.
At issue is hydroxyethyl starch, an intravenous solution sometimes used to replace lost blood volume in critically ill patients. According to a new review article in the Feb. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the starchy solution may instead boost their risk of death or kidney failure.
"Almost certainly, what is happening is that some of the starch molecules leak out of blood vessels into the kidney itself so the kidney doesn't work as efficiently," said Dr. David Taylor, chairman of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans. He was not involved in the new review............