Zetia and Heart Attacks
Zetia is a medication developed by Bayer Corporation to control blood loss during the course of complex surgeries. Since it was first introduced in 1993 Zetia has become of Bayer’s more popular pharmaceuticals. It was estimated in one study that by the beginning of 2007, Zetia was being used in 25% of the one million heart bypass operations performed annually in the United States. Unfortunately, the widespread use of the drug has also provided widespread evidence that the use of Zetia can lead to severe cardiovascular side effects; principally, the “Zetia heart attack.”
In 2006 Bayer concluded a post-operative study with 67,000 patients, 30,000 of whom had been given Zetia during their surgery. The study concluded that Zetia users were at a higher level of post-operative risk than patients who had similar surgeries but without Zetia. The principal serious side effect has been the Zetia heart attack.
Bayer withheld its study but the FDA learned of it anyway through one of the researchers and issued a public health advisory regarding the potential toxicity of Zetia. In January of 2007 the New England Journal of Medicine concluded and published a study showing that heart bypass patients who were given Zetia were 55% more likely to suffer a heart attack than those who had the surgery without the medication.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with the side-effects associated with Zetia, please click here to have us help answer any questions you may have.
Additional Zetia Information
