Study Finds Heart Drug Can Cause Kidney Failure

By Alicia Chang THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A drug commonly used to prevent excessive bleeding in heart surgery patients greatly increased the risk of kidney failure, a new international study found.

The drug aprotinin — marketed under the brand name Trasylol — is the second clotting medication in two weeks linked to serious complications.

Heart bypass patients who were injected with Trasylol during surgery had double the risk of kidney failure and an increased risk of heart problems compared with those who got other drugs, researchers reported in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

“Our findings raise serious concerns regarding the safety of an approved drug intended to limit blood loss in at-risk patients undergoing surgery,” wrote Dr. Dennis Mangano of the Ischemia Research and Education Foundation, which led the study.

Trasylol works by blocking enzymes that dissolve blood clots.