Health Highlights: June 14, 2004

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Many Patients Negate Effect of New Painkillers

New research finds that many people taking the painkillers Celebrex and Vioxx may be negating the effectiveness of those medications because they're taking aspirin at the same time.

The research letter, appearing in the June 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, says that more than half the retirees on Celebrex and Vioxx, known as cox-2 inhibitors, were also taking aspirin because of its protective effects on the heart.

Previous research has found that aspirin can nullify the gastrointestinal benefits of cox-2 inhibitors, which is why patients are on those drugs in the first place.

Moreover, researchers at the pharmacy benefits company Express Scripts found, many of the retirees were taking dosages of aspirin that are much too high.

"Patients should ask their physician about changing to another equally effective lower cost nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) instead of a COX-2 agent," the study's lead author, Emily Cox, said in a statement.

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Experts See Surge in Teen Breast Implants

The number of 18-year-old girls getting breast implants has tripled in the last two years, according to experts, and their parents seemingly approve because they give the implants as graduation presents.

The New York Post, citing figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, reported that the number of girls that age who got cosmetic implants went from 3,872 in 2002 to 11,326 last year.

"There is a trend in which parents are giving implants as a gift, including as a graduation present," Dr. Stephen Greenberg, who practices in Woodbury, L.I., and New York City, told the Post.

Experts said that girls are swayed into changing their looks by reality TV shows like "Extreme Makeover" and curvaceous young stars like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

"The media and fashion industries emphasize breasts and a curvaceous figure," the paper quoted Dr. Leroy Young, co-chair of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's breast-surgery committee, as saying. "There's no advertising [for implants] targeting that age group, but the images are all around them."

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Reagans to Bush: Get Out of Way on Stem Cells

In the strongest statement on the subject since the death of former President Reagan, his daughter says her mother plans to become an even stronger advocate for stem cell research -- and a stronger opponent of the current White House policy on it.

A decade after Reagan disclosed that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Patti Davis said Nancy Reagan will urge the Bush administration to loosen restrictions on stem cell research.

"My mother has emerged as a central figure in the effort to get the federal government out of the way," Davis wrote in the current issue of Newsweek. "If that phrase about the government sounds familiar, it should. I grew up hearing my father say often that the government should get out of the way."

Advocates want more lines of stem cells available for research into numerous diseases, including Alzheimer's. However, the current policy, announced in 2001, greatly limits the availability because they often come from destroyed embryos.

Nancy Reagan has "only recently" found her voice on the issue, Davis wrote, but she intends to state the case loudly. "It has also placed her firmly against the White House -- at least those currently in residence there," Davis wrote. "I swear I can hear my father chuckling at that."

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Doc's Proposal to Not Treat Lawyers Draws Outrage

Colleagues expressed outrage over a doctor's proposal that the American Medical Association (AMA) endorse withholding care from lawyers involved in medical malpractice cases.

Dr. J. Chris Hawk, a South Carolina surgeon, put forward the proposal Sunday at the annual meeting of the AMA, the nation's largest physicians group, the Associated Press reported.

Hawk said he put forward the resolution in order to draw attention to increasing medical malpractice costs. He proposed that the AMA inform doctors that, unless it's an emergency, it would not be unethical to refuse to give medical care to lawyers (and their spouses) representing people suing doctors for malpractice.

After his resolution was roundly denounced, Hawk asked that it be withdrawn.

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Experimental Cocaine Vaccine Shows Promise

An experimental vaccine to fight cocaine addiction showed promise in trials done in the United States.

The trials found that half of the cocaine addicts who received the vaccine, called TA-CD, were able to stay off the drug for six months, BBC News Online reports.

The vaccine, developed by the British pharmaceutical company Xenova, does not stop a person's craving for cocaine. Instead, the vaccine blocks the high a person experiences when using cocaine.

It does this by preventing cocaine from moving from the bloodstream into the brain.

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New In Vitro Guidelines To Reduce Chance of Twins

New guidelines aimed at reducing the number of twins born using in vitro fertilization are expected to be released soon by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

The guidelines will request in vitro clinics to implant fewer embryos in the womb, the Baltimore Sun reported.

It will be recommend that clinics implant one and, at most, two embryos in women younger than age 35. The limit will be higher for older women.

While many parents using in vitro welcome the prospect of twins, such multiple births increase the risk of a premature birth and possible mental or physical disabilities.

"The vast majority of twins are healthy, but the risk of bad outcomes is roughly fourfold higher in twins than in singletons," Dr. Owen Davis, society president and associate director of in vitro fertilization at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, told the Sun.