Drug Therapy

Gladys Thomas, who is battling ovarian cancer, has received a powerful ally in her fight against the insurance company that has refused to pay for her treatment with a new cancer drug. The company, Manulife Financial, says that her policy does not cover experimental drugs such as the one Thomas is receiving, Taxol. Thomas is receiving the drug only because she has already undergone two surgeries and conventional chemotherapy. She says her insurance should cover the treatments.

Using drug therapy and other less invasive procedures for treating heart disease could save lives and pare an estimated $9 billion from America's $930 billion health-care tab, according to a study released yesterday. The study of more than 100,000 patients treated for heart disease in 1992 found that, in less-seriously ill patients, using drug therapy and balloon angioplasty instead of coronary bypass surgery might have resulted in 6,343 fewer deaths. "Many of these deaths may well have been avoided," wrote the authors, the Washington-based Bureau of National Affairs, and HCIA Inc., of Baltimore.

About three years ago, Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin felt an orange-sized lump in her breast while weaning her third child. She figured she had a blocked milk duct or maybe an infection. She never dreamed it could be breast cancer. But she soon discovered that the conventional wisdom about the disease - who gets it, when, and why - does not apply to the aggressive subtype known as "triple negative. " "I thought when you were pregnant and nursing you were protected," recalled Griffin, 43, who blogged about her battle against triple negative cancer at jengriffinblog.blogspot.com.

Thanks primarily to new drugs, life expectancy for people infected with HIV has doubled in recent years. "Many people with AIDS," says Alan F. Holmer of the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, "are going back to work or to school and making plans for the future they didn't think they had. " Good news, certainly, on the eve of World AIDS Day (tomorrow), but not good enough. Drug therapy is extremely expensive, demand for the new treatments has strained Medicaid budgets and state-run AIDS drug-assistance programs, and the drugs don't work for everybody.

STAR SEARCH Where is this year's Mary Lou Retton? Here we are, halfway through the Barcelona Olympics, and advertising talent spotters still haven't found a new, young athletic face to sell soft drinks, cereal, hamburgers or sneakers. The pitchmeisters are eying gymnast Shannon Miller; swimmers Pablo Morales, Mark Barrowman and Anita Nall; diver Mark Lenzi, and decathlete Dave Johnson. But none of them yet is an undisputed new superstar, and Brian J. Murphy, publisher and editor of the Sports Marketing Letter, says: "It may be that no one . . . emerges.

In the long, lethal history of the AIDS epidemic, only one human has ever conclusively beaten the disease: Timothy Brown. A gay American man in Berlin, Brown was on the brink of death from leukemia and HIV in 2006 when he was given a novel treatment that rebooted his immune system, simultaneously curing him of both diseases. Now 46, Brown has since been poked, prodded, and tested by experts around the world, and been declared healthy, albeit with lingering side effects from his care.

Jacqueline Watts of Horsham is confident that her daughter Nicole will undergo treatment as planned in California for her rare disease - despite an unexpected setback. Nicole, 3, has hollow visceral myopathy, which prevents muscles from pushing waste from her body. She had been scheduled to begin experimental treatment for the condition on July 17 in California. However, Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen, manufacturer of the experimental drug Cisapride used in the treatment, have withdrawn its use in patients who suffer from seizures.

Don't take any drug for granted, health experts say. "Remember they all have their downsides," said Dr. Robert Temple of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Safe for a drug means that the adverse effects of the drug are outweighed by the benefits. " To protect yourself, Public Citizen Health Research Group, a Washington advocacy group, recommends: Be alert for any adverse reactions. Assume any new symptom you develop after starting a new drug may be caused by the drug.

Q: I have severe scar tissue in my lungs. I'm a 69-year-old female and have smoked in excess of one pack per day for 45 years. I've been on Brethine, Choledyl and Atrovent for five years, and worry about side effects. A: As a result of your heavy cigarette consumption, you appear to have developed a chronic lung disorder. I'll venture that you have emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic pulmonary inflammation in addition to, or as a cause of, your pulmonary scarring. Evidently, your doctor has chosen to deal with the treatable aspects of your disease, a wise choice inasmuch as the scarring itself is permanent and incurable.

Q: I have a problem with a "trigger finger. " When I awaken in the morning it is bent upon itself and it's very painful to straighten. Can you tell me the origin of this condition and what can be done to alleviate it? A: Having just recovered from a bout of "trigger finger," I can sympathize with your frustration. Put simply, this condition is a partial dislocation of a finger (or thumb) joint caused by an inflamed tendon, resulting from repetitive hand activity. When the tendon becomes irritated, it also becomes swollen, rough and sore.

About three years ago, Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin felt an orange-sized lump in her breast while weaning her third child. She figured she had a blocked milk duct or maybe an infection. She never dreamed it could be breast cancer. But she soon discovered that the conventional wisdom about the disease - who gets it, when, and why - does not apply to the aggressive subtype known as "triple negative. " "I thought when you were pregnant and nursing you were protected," recalled Griffin, 43, who blogged about her battle against triple negative cancer at jengriffinblog.blogspot.com.

In the long, lethal history of the AIDS epidemic, only one human has ever conclusively beaten the disease: Timothy Brown. A gay American man in Berlin, Brown was on the brink of death from leukemia and HIV in 2006 when he was given a novel treatment that rebooted his immune system, simultaneously curing him of both diseases. Now 46, Brown has since been poked, prodded, and tested by experts around the world, and been declared healthy, albeit with lingering side effects from his care.

Rheumatoid arthritis can be a painful, debilitating disease. But like some of its victims, Fred LeStourgeon was lucky enough to find long-term relief through drug therapy - in his case, with a combination of two widely available generic drugs. Then something odd happened, and LeStourgeon has been asking questions ever since. Last fall, one of the medications he relied on, leflunomide, nearly vanished from the market - only a much higher-priced brand version, Arava, remained available.

For many this Thanksgiving holiday, life is not going to imitate a cozy Currier & Ives print. Struggling with events in a world that they cannot control, people will try drug therapy, talk therapy, even pet therapy. But in rural Montgomery County, a different kind of healing can be had: horticultural therapy. At the Growing Center in Frederick, visitors immerse themselves in earth and plants, and come away with psychological relief. While wind snapped at the plastic shells of eight unpretentious greenhouses, center founder David Boyer recently led the way to the gardens, where wintering mint and sage plants bent their faces to the ground.

Treatment with a three-drug combination can dramatically slow the progression of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and cut mortality rates by 50 percent in advanced HIV patients, a large government-sponsored study has found. The study, reported in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine, is the latest to demonstrate the clinical benefits of the new "drug cocktails" for HIV infection. The new government study, however, is the first to find conclusive evidence that the use of three drugs, including one in a class known as protease inhibitors, is clinically superior to just two drugs in a different class.

Powerful new drugs developed over the last year may be able to wipe out the AIDS virus not just in people's bloodstreams but also in their lymph nodes and other hidden sanctuaries of the body. In a preliminary study of 24 recently infected people, virologist David D. Ho found that a combination of three anti-HIV drugs drove the virus to undetectable levels in semen and lymph tissue taken from the patients' intestines, as well as their blood. The findings are the first to indicate that the potent combination therapy may kill virus that is lurking in various hidden reservoirs of the body.

Thanks primarily to new drugs, life expectancy for people infected with HIV has doubled in recent years. "Many people with AIDS," says Alan F. Holmer of the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, "are going back to work or to school and making plans for the future they didn't think they had. " Good news, certainly, on the eve of World AIDS Day (tomorrow), but not good enough. Drug therapy is extremely expensive, demand for the new treatments has strained Medicaid budgets and state-run AIDS drug-assistance programs, and the drugs don't work for everybody.

When Joyce Friedman learned she had a large cancerous tumor in her breast, her fear of the disease was compounded by the prospect of a mastectomy. Then her surgeon suggested an innovative treatment: chemotherapy before, as well as after, surgery. That would mean delaying removal of her tumor for several months, but the first round of drugs might shrink it, enabling him to perform a lumpectomy instead. Today, six years after taking the gamble, the 56-year-old accounting supervisor has had no recurrence of the disease.

A mother whose five children were removed from a homeless camp last week by social workers consented yesterday to enter a hospital drug rehabilitation unit so she can regain custody. Noemi Vasquez, who spent two weeks with her children at the camp at Fourth Street and Lehigh Avenue, Philadelphia, checked into a hospital detoxification unit after a hearing before Family Court Judge Nicholas A. Cipriani, camp organizers said. Cipriani confirmed that an agreement was reached, but declined to disclose details.

Using drug therapy and other less invasive procedures for treating heart disease could save lives and pare an estimated $9 billion from America's $930 billion health-care tab, according to a study released yesterday. The study of more than 100,000 patients treated for heart disease in 1992 found that, in less-seriously ill patients, using drug therapy and balloon angioplasty instead of coronary bypass surgery might have resulted in 6,343 fewer deaths. "Many of these deaths may well have been avoided," wrote the authors, the Washington-based Bureau of National Affairs, and HCIA Inc., of Baltimore.