Heart-Surgery Drug Linked to Death Risk

Aprotinin, a drug given during heart surgery to limit bleeding, increases the risk of death for five years post-op, say U.S. scientists.

An analysis by researchers at the Ischemia Research and Education Foundation in San Bruno, Calif., showed that, after five years, 20.8 percent of heart patients who received aprotinin had died, compared to only 15.8 percent of those who were given another agent, aminocaproic acid; 14.7 percent of people who received the drug tranexamic acid, and 12.7 percent of those who received no anti-bleeding agent at all.

The team based its findings on survival rates at six weeks, six months, and annually for five years for 3,876 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures at 62 medical centers around the world.

The researchers built their study on a previous observational study released in 2006 that linked aprotinin with a doubling or tripling of the risk of perioperative kidney failure, requiring dialysis in patients undergoing primary, repeat or complex coronary artery surgery.

Use of aprotinin among patients undergoing CABG surgery does not appear prudent because safer and less expensive alternatives (i.e., aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid) are available, the authors concluded.

A report on the research is published in the Feb. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.