Adverse effect, in medicine, is an abnormal, harmful, undesired and/or unintended side-effect, although not necessarily unexpected, which is obtained as the result of a therapy or other medical intervention, such as drug/chemotherapy, physical therapy, surgery, medical procedure, use of a medical device, etc. Iatrogenesis (literally, generated by a physician) is a common cause of adverse effects. Using a drug or other medical intervention which is contraindicated may increase the risk of adverse effects. Adverse effects may cause medical complications of a disease or procedure and affect negatively its prognosis. Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with maintaining health and restoring it by treating disease. ... A side-effect is any effect other than an intended primary effect. ... Therapy (in Greek: θεραπεία) or treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a diagnosis. ... Many drugs are provided in tablet form. ... Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. ... Physical therapy can help restore lost functionality in many people. ... A typical modern surgery operation For other meanings of the word, see Surgery (disambiguation) Surgery (from the Greek cheirourgia - lit. ... This article or section should be merged with Medical devices Medical equipment is machinery designed to aid medical therapies. ... An iatrogenic (pronounced [aI%{.tr@UdZE.nIk], SAMPA) condition is a state of ill health or adverse effect caused by medical treatment, usually due to mistakes made in treatment. ... In medicine, a contraindication is a condition or factor that increases the risk involved in using a particular drug, carrying out a medical procedure or engaging in a particular activity. ... Risk is the potential harm that may arise from some present process or from some future event. ... Complication, in medicine, is a unfavorable evolution of a disease, a health condition or a medical treatment. ... Prognosis (older Greek πρόγνωσις, modern Greek πρόγνωση - literally fore-knowing, foreseeing) is a medical term denoting the doctors prediction of how a patients disease will progress, and whether there is chance of recovery. ...

The harmful outcome is usually indicated by some result such as morbidity, mortality, alteration in body weight, levels of enzymes, loss of function or as a pathological change detected at the microscopic, macroscopic or physiological level. They may cause a reversible or irreversible change, including an increase or decrease in the susceptibility of the individual to other chemicals, foods, or procedures (e.g. drug interaction). In epidemiology, the morbidity rate is a ratio that measures the incidence and prevalence of a specific disease. ... ... Neuraminidase ribbon diagram An enzyme (in Greek en = in and zyme = leaven) is a protein, or protein complex, that catalyzes a chemical reaction and also controls the 3D orientation of the catalyzed substrates. ... Pathology (in ancient Greek pathos = feeling, pain, suffering and logos = discourse or treatise, i. ... Drug interaction is a situation in which two or more separate drugs have been absorbed into the body and their effects are affected by each other, i. ...

Reporting systems

In many countries, adverse effects are required by law to be reported, researched in clinical trials and included into the patient information accompanying medical devices and drugs for sale to the public. In medicine, a clinical trial (synonyms: clinical studies, research protocols, medical research) is a research study. ...

USA

In the USA several reporting systems have been built, such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience Database (MAUDE) and thee Special Nutritionals Adverse Event Monitoring System. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System is a United States program for vaccine safety, co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ...

Australia

In Australia, adverse effect reporting is administered by the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (ADRAC), a subcommittee of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC). Reporting is voluntary, and ADRAC requests health professionals to report all adverse reactions to its current drugs of interest, and serious adverse reactions to any drug. ADRAC publishes the Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin every 2 months.

Adverse effects of medical procedures

Surgery, of course, may have a number of undesirable or harmful after effects, such as infection, hemorrhage, inflammation, scarring, loss of function, changes in local blood flow, and so on. They can be reversible or irreversible, and a compromise must be found by the physician and the patient between the beneficial or life-saving consequences of surgery versus its adverse effects. For example, a limb may be lost to amputation in case of untreatable gangrene, but life is saved. Presently, one of the greatest advantages of minimally invasive surgery, such as laparoscopic surgery is the redution of adverse effects. An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ... Hemorrhage (alternate spelling is Haemorrhage) is the medical term meaning bleeding. ... Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the innate cascade. ... A scar results from the biologic process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. ... Blood flow is the flow of blood in the cardiovascular system. ... Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or surgery. ... Gangrene is necrosis and subsequent decay of body tissues caused by infection, thrombosis or lack of blood flow. ... A minimally invasive medical procedure is defined as one that is carried out by entering the body through the skin or through a body cavity or anatomical opening, but with the smallest damage possible to these structures. ... Laparoscopic surgery, also called keyhole surgery (when natural body openings are not used), bandaid surgery, or minimally invasive surgery (MIS), is a surgical technique. ...

Other non-surgical physical procedures such as high intensity radiotherapy may cause burns and alterations in the skin. In general, these therapies try to avoid damage to healthy tissues while maximizing the therapeutic effect. Radiation therapy (or radiotherapy) is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology, the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis). ... Evolution of a 2nd degree burn — One hour Evolution of a 2nd degree burn — One day Evolution of a 2nd degree burn — two days In medicine, a burn is a type of injury to the skin caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, or radiation (an example of the latter is sunburn). ... Model of the layers of human skin In zootomy and dermatology, skin is an organ of the integumentary system; which is composed of a layer of tissues that protect underlying muscles and organs. ... Biological tissue is a group of cells that perform a similar function. ...

Vaccination is a medical procedure which is particularly prone to adverse effects, due to the nature of its biological preparation (sometimes using attenuated pathogens and toxins). Common adverse effects may be fever, malaise and local reactions in the vaccination site, such as eczema vaccinatum, a severe, sometimes fatal complicaiton which may result in persons who have eczema or atopic dermatitis, and, as such, should not be vaccinated, even if the condition is currently not active. Vaccination is a term coined by Edward Jenner for the process of administering a weakened form of a disease to patients as a means of giving them immunity to a more serious form of the disease. ... A pathogen (literally birth of pain from the Greek παθογένεια) is a biological agent that can cause disease to its host. ... For a list of biologically injurious substances, including toxins and other materials, as well as their effects, see poison. ... Fever, also known as pyrexia, is a medical symptom which describes an increase in temperature to levels which are above normal (37 degrees Celsius, 98. ... Malaise is a term used to refer to a general state of discomfort, tiredness, or illness. ... Eczema vaccinatum skin rash. ... Complication, in medicine, is a unfavorable evolution of a disease, a health condition or a medical treatment. ... Dermatitis, also known as eczema, is a skin irritation characterized by red, flaky skin, sometimes with cracks or tiny blisters. ... Typical, mild dermatitis A patch of eczema that has been scratched Dermatitis, also known as eczema, is a skin irritation characterized by red, flaky skin, sometimes with cracks or tiny blisters. ...

Diagnostic procedures may also have adverse effects, depending much on whether they are invasive, non-invasive or minimally invasive. For example, allergic reactions to x-ray contrasting material occur often, a colonoscopy may cause the perforation of the intestine wall, etc. The term invasive in Medicine has two meanings: A medical procedure which penetrates or breaks the skin or a body cavity, i. ... The term non-invasive in Medicine has two meanings: A medical procedure which does not penetrates or breaks the skin or a body cavity, i. ... A minimally invasive medical procedure is defined as one that is carried out by entering the body through the skin or through a body cavity or anatomical opening, but with the smallest damage possible to these structures. ... An allergy or Type I hypersensitivity is a immune malfunction whereby a persons body is hypersensitised to react immunologically to typically nonimmunogenic substances. ... Colonoscopy is the minimally invasive endoscopic examination of the large colon and the distal part of the small bowel with a fiber optic camera on a flexible tube passed through the anus. ...

Adverse effects of drugs

See also adverse drug reaction An adverse drug reaction (abbreviated ADR) is a term to describe the unwanted, negative consequences sometimes associated with the use of medications. ...

Adverse effects can occur as a collateral or side effect of many interventions, but they are particularly important in pharmacology, due to its wider, and sometimes uncontrollable, use by way of self-medication. Thus, responsible drug use becomes an important issue here. Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon (φάρμακον) is drug, and logos (λόγος) is science) is the study of how chemical substances interact with living systems. ... Self-medication is the use of drugs, often illicit, to treat a perceived or real malady, often of a psychological nature. ... The concept of responsible drug use is that a person can (for recreational, creative, spiritual, or entheogenic purposes) use a drug without it interfering in other parts of ones life and with no risk of danger to oneself or others. ...

Adverse effects, like intended effects of drugs, are a function of dosage or drug levels at the target organs, so they may be avoided or decreased by means of careful and precise pharmacodynamics (the change of drug levels in the organism in function of time after administration). Dosage is Collective Souls fourth studio album, released on February 9, 1999. ... Pharmacodynamics is the study of the biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and the mechanisms of drug action and the relationship between drug concentration and effect. ...

Adverse effects may also be caused by drug interaction, i.e., when physicians fail to check for all medicaments a patient is taking and prescribe new ones which interact agonistically or antagonistically (potentiate or decrease the intended therapeutic effect). Significant morbidity and mortality is caused around the world because of this. Drug-drug and food-drug interactions may occur, and even so-called "natural drugs" used in alternative medicine may have dangerous adverse effects. For example, extracts of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), a phytotherapic used for treating mild depression are known to cause an increase in the cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for the metabolism and elimination of many drugs, so that patients taking it are likely to experience a reduction in blood levels of drugs that they are taking for other purposes, such as cancer chemotherapeutic drugs, protease inhibitors for HIV and oral contraceptives. Drug interaction is a situation in which two or more separate drugs have been absorbed into the body and their effects are affected by each other, i. ... In epidemiology, the morbidity rate is a ratio that measures the incidence and prevalence of a specific disease. ... Alternative medicine broadly describes methods and practices used in place of, or in addition to, conventional medical treatments. ... Binomial name Hypericum perforatum Linnaeus, St Johns wort used alone refers to the species Hypericum perforatum, also known as Klamath weed or Goat weed, but is used with qualifiers to refer to any species of the genus Hypericum. ... The word depression can mean: A decrease of functional activity in behavior patterns. ... Cytochrome P450 Oxidase (CYP2E1) Cytochrome P450 oxidase (commonly abbreviated CYP) is a generic term for a large number of related, but distinct, oxidative enzymes (EC 1. ... Santorio Santorio (1561-1636) in his steelyard balance, from Ars de statica medecina, first published 1614 Metabolism (from μεταβολισμος(metavallo), the Greek word for change), in the most general sense, is the ingestion and breakdown of complex compounds, coupled with the liberation of energy, and the consequent generation of waste... When normal cells are damaged or old they undergo apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. ... Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. ... Protease inhibitor can refer to: Protease inhibitor (pharmacology): a class of medication that inhibits viral protease Protease inhibitor (biology): a group of proteins that inhibit proteases. ... HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the human immune system. ... Oral contraceptives are contraceptives which are taken orally and inhibit the bodys fertility by chemical means. ...

The scientific field of activity associated with drug safety is increasingly government-regulated and is of major concern for the public as well as to drug manufacturers. The distinction between adverse and non-adverse effects is a major undertaking when a new drug is developed and tested before marketing it. This is done in toxicity studies to determine the non-adverse effect level (NOAEL). This studies are used to define the dosage to be used in human testing (phase I) as well as to calculate the maximum admissible daily intake. Imperfect clinical trials, such as insufficient number of patients or short duration, sometimes lead to public health disasters such as those of fenfluramine (the so-called fen-phen episode), thalidomide and, more recently, of cerivastatin (Baycol®, Lipobay®) and rofecoxib (Vioxx®), where drastic adverse effects were observed, like teratogenesis, pulmonary hypertension, stroke, heart disease, neuropathy, etc., and a significant number of deaths. causing the forced or voluntary withdrawal of the drug from the market. Toxicity is a measure to the degree to which something is toxic or poisonous. ... Public health is an aspect of health services concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. ... Fenfluramine is a drug that was part of the Fen-Phen anti-obesity (the other drug being phentermine). ... Fen-phen was an anti-obesity medication (an anorectic) which consisted of two drugs: fenfluramine and phentermine. ... Thalidomide is a drug which was sold during the 1950s and 1960s as a sleeping aid and to pregnant women as an antiemetic to combat morning sickness and other symptoms. ... In pharmacology, cerivastatin (Baycol®, Lipobay®) is a synthetic member of the class of statins, used to lower cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease. ... Rofecoxib is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that was used in the treatment of osteoarthritis, acute pain conditions, and dysmenorrhoea. ... Teratogenesis is a medical term from the Greek, literally meaning monster making. ... In medicine, pulmonary hypertension (PH) or pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is an increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary artery or lung vasculature. ... A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90%of strokes) or by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - approximately 10% of strokes). ... There are different forms of heart disease: Coronary heart disease Ischaemic heart disease Cardiovascular disease The study of heart disease is Cardiology This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Neuropathy is a disease of the peripheral nervous system. ... Some drugs have been withdrawn from the market subsequently to their introduction due to risks for the patients. ...

Most drugs have a large list of non-severe or mild adverse effects which do not rule out the interruption of usage. These effects have widely variable incidence, according to individual sensitivity. They comprise nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, malaise, vomit, headache, dermatitis, dry mouth, etc. Nausea (Greek Ναυτεία) is the sensation of unease and discomfort in the stomach with an urge to vomit. ... Dizziness (Latin: Vertigo) is the sensation of instability. ... Diarrhea in American English, (spelled diarrhoea in other anglophone countries) is a condition in which the sufferer has frequent and watery or loose bowel movements (from the ancient Greek word διαρροή = leakage; lit. ... Malaise is a term used to refer to a general state of discomfort, tiredness, or illness. ... Vomiting (or emesis) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of ones stomach through the mouth. ... A headache is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ... Typical, mild dermatitis A patch of eczema that has been scratched Dermatitis, also known as eczema, is a skin irritation characterized by red, flaky skin, sometimes with cracks or tiny blisters. ...

Controversies

Sometimes, putative medical adverse effects are regarded as controversial and generate heated discussions in society and lawsuits against drug manufacturers. One example is the current controversy whether autism may be caused by the MMR vaccine (or by thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines). No significative link has been found so far, but this has not prevented lawsuits. Another instance is the potential adverse effects of silicone breast implants, which lead to hundreds of thousands of litigations against manufacturers of gel-based implants, due to allegations of damage to the immune system which have not yet been conclusively proven. A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. ... There is considerable disagreement over the exact nature of autism, a condition which is not well understood. ... The MMR vaccine is a combined vaccine for immunization against measles, mumps and rubella. ... The structure of Thimerosal Thimerosal (sometimes spelled as thimerosol and thiomersal[1]) (trade name: Merthiolate) is an organometallic compound used commonly since the 1930s as a preservative in some vaccines. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12 (IIB), 6, d Density, Hardness liquid 13. ... A bottle and a syringe containing the influenza vaccine. ... Silicones, or polysiloxanes, are inorganic polymers consisting of a silicon-oxygen backbone (...-Si-O-Si-O-Si-O-...) with side groups attached to the silicon atoms. ... Breast implant diagram Silicone gel-filled breast implants Saline-filled breast implants A breast implant is a prosthesis used in cosmetic surgery to enhance the size and shape of a womans breasts (known as breast augmentation) or to reconstruct the breast (for example, after a mastectomy, or during male... The immune system is the organ system that protects an organism from outside biological influences. ...

Due to the exceedingly high impact on public health of widely used medications, such as oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy, which may affect millions of users, even marginal probabilities of adverse effects of a severe nature, such as breast cancer, have led to public outcry and changes in medical therapy, although its benefits largely surpassed the statistical risks. Oral contraceptives are chemicals taken by mouth to inhibit normal fertility. ... This article is about the treatment with sex steroids. ... Breast cancer is cancer of breast tissue. ...

Examples of adverse effects

• Headache following spinal anesthesia
• Dementia associated with heart bypass surgery
• Intestinal bleeding associated with aspirin therapy
• Diarrhea cause by the use of orlistat (Xenical)
• Hypertension in ephedrine users, which prompted FDA to remove the status of dietary supplement of ephedra extracts
• Hair loss and anemia may be caused by chemotherapy against cancer, leukemia, etc.
• Glaucoma associated with corticosteroid-based eye drops
• Sleepiness and increase in appetite associated to antihistamines
• Rhabdomyolysis associated with statins (anti-cholesterol drugs)
• Seizures by abrupt withdrawal of benzodiazepines
• Fever associated with vaccination (in the past, imperfectly manufactured vaccines, such as BCG and poliomyelitis, have caused the very disease they intended to fight).
• Deafness and kidney failure associated with gentamicin (an antibiotic)
• Melasma and thrombosis associated with the use of oral contraceptives
• Addiction to many sedatives and analgesics such as diazepam, morphine, etc.
• Increase in suicide tendency associated to the use of fluoxetine and other SSRI antidepressants
• Erectile dysfunction associated with many drugs, such as antidepressants
• Strokes and heart attacks associated with sildenafil (Viagra®) when used with nitroglycerine
• Lactic acidosis associated with the use of stavudine (Zerit®, for anti-HIV therapy) or metformin (for diabetes)
• Hepatic injury and depression caused by interferon
• Tardive dyskinesia associated with long-term use of metoclopramide and many antipsychotic medications
• Deaths following sedation in children using propofol (Diprivan®)
• Abortions and severe vaginal or uterine hemorrhage associated with misoprostol (Cytotec®), a labor-inducing drug (this is a case where the adverse effect has been used legally and ilegally for performing abortions).

A headache is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ... Spinal anaesthesia is a form of local, or more specifically regional, anaesthesia involving injection of a local anaesthetic into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), generally through a long fine needle. ... Dementia (from Latin demens) is progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. ... A coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or heart bypass is a surgical procedure performed in patients with coronary artery disease (see atherosclerosis) for the relief of angina and possible improved heart muscle function. ... Bleeding is the loss of blood from the body. ... A very old bottle of Aspirin Aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid is a drug in the family of salicylates, often used as an analgesic (against minor pains and aches), antipyretic (against fever), and anti-inflammatory. ... Diarrhea in American English, (spelled diarrhoea in other anglophone countries) is a condition in which the sufferer has frequent and watery or loose bowel movements (from the ancient Greek word διαρροή = leakage; lit. ... Orlistat (marketed as Xenical) is a drug designed to treat obesity. ... In medicine, hypertension is abnormally high blood pressure. ... Ephedrine (EPH) is a sympathomimetic amine commonly used as a decongestant. ... In the United States, a dietary supplement is defined under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 as a product taken by the mouth that contains a dietary ingredient that is intended as a supplement to the diet. ... Species See text Ephedra is a genus of gymnosperm shrubs, the only genus in the family Ephedraceae and order Ephedrales. ... Baldness (formally alopecia) is the state of lacking hair where it usually would grow, especially on the head. ... Anemia (American English) or anaemia (Commonwealth English), which literally means without blood, is a lack of red blood cells and/or hemoglobin. ... Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. ... When normal cells are damaged or old they undergo apoptosis; cancer cells, however, avoid apoptosis. ... Leukemia (leukaemia in Commonwealth English) is a group of blood diseases characterized by malignancies (cancer) of the blood-forming tissues. ... In physiology, corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex. ... Categories: Animation stubs ... A girl quietly at sleep Sleep is the fundamental anabolic process common to all life forms, plant and animal. ... The appetite is the desire to eat food, felt as hunger. ... An antihistamine is a drug which serves to reduce or eliminate effects mediated by histamine, an endogenous chemical mediator released during allergic reactions, through action at the histamine receptor. ... Rhabdomyolysis is the breakdown of skeletal muscle due to injury. ... Lovastatin, the first statin to be marketed The statins (or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) form a class of hypolipidemic agents, used as pharmaceuticals to lower cholesterol levels in people at risk for cardiovascular disease because of hypercholesterolemia. ... This article is about the medical condition. ... Benzodiazepine tablets The benzodiazepines are a class of drugs with hypnotic, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, amnestic and muscle relaxant properties. ... Fever, also known as pyrexia, is a medical symptom which describes an increase in temperature to levels which are above normal (37 degrees Celsius, 98. ... Vaccination is a term coined by Edward Jenner for the process of administering a weakened form of a disease to patients as a means of giving them immunity to a more serious form of the disease. ... Bacillus of Calmette and Guérin (BCG) is a vaccine against tuberculosis that is prepared from a strain of the attenuated (weakened) live bovine tuberculosis bacillus, Mycobacterium bovis that has lost its virulence in humans by specially culturing in artificial medium for years. ... Poliomyelitis (polio) is a viral paralytic disease. ... This article is about hearing impairment in the patholocial sense. ... Renal failure is when the kidneys fail to function properly. ... Gentamicin is a aminoglycoside antibiotic, and can treat many different types of bacterial infections, particularly Gram-negative infection. ... An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. ... Melasma on adult females cheek. ... Thrombosis is the formation of a clot or thrombus inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. ... Oral contraceptives are chemicals taken by mouth to inhibit normal fertility. ... Addiction is an uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its consequences. ... A sedative is a drug that depresses the central nervous system (CNS), which causes calmness, relaxation, reduction of anxiety, sleepiness, slowed breathing, slurred speech, staggering gait, poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes. ... For other uses of painkiller, see painkiller (disambiguation) An analgesic (colloquially known as painkiller) is any member of the diverse group of drugs used to relieve pain. ... Diazepam, brand names: Valium, Seduxen, in Europe Apozepam, is a 1,4-benzodiazepine derivative, which possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, sedative and skeletal muscle relaxant properties. ... Morphine (INN), the principal active agent in opium, is a powerful opioid analgesic drug. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of intentionally ending ones own life; it is sometimes a noun for one who has committed, or attempted the act. ... Fluoxetine hydrochloride (brand names include Prozac®, Symbyax® (compounded with olanzapine), Sarafem®, Fontex® (Sweden), Fluctin (Austria, Germany), Prodep (India), Fludac (India) is an antidepressant drug used medically in the treatment of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia nervosa, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and many other disorders. ... SSRI is an acronym that stands for several things: It is a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor SSRI also is used as the stock symbol for Silver Standard Resources Inc. ... Erectile dysfunction, also known as impotence, is the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis for satisfactory sexual intercourse regardless of the capability of ejaculation. ... An antidepressant is a medication used primarily in the treatment of clinical depression. ... A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90%of strokes) or by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - approximately 10% of strokes). ... A myocardial infarction occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque slowly builds up in the inner lining of a coronary artery and then suddenly ruptures, totally occluding the artery and preventing blood flow downstream. ... Sildenafil citrate, sold under the name Viagra, is a drug used to treat male erectile dysfunction (impotence), developed by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. ... Nitroglycerin (also nitroglycerine, trinitroglycerin, or glyceryl trinitrate) is a chemical compound, a heavy, colorless, poisonous, oily, explosive liquid obtained by nitrating glycerol. ... Lactic acidosis is a condition caused by the buildup of lactic acid in the body. ... Stavudine (2-3-didehydro-2-3-dideoxythymidine, d4T) is a thymidine analogue active against HIV. It is phosphorylated by cellular kinases into active triphosphate. ... HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the human immune system. ... Metformin (Glucophage®) is an anti-diabetic drug from the biguanide class (its other members are the withdrawn agents phenformin and buformin). ... Cirrhosis is a chronic disease of the liver in which liver tissue is replaced by connective tissue, resulting in the loss of liver function. ... The word depression can mean: A decrease of functional activity in behavior patterns. ... Interferons (IFNs) are natural proteins produced by the cells of the immune systems of most animals in response to a challenge by a foreign agents such as viruses, bacteria, parasites and tumour cells. ... Tardive dyskinesia is a serious neurological disorder caused by the long-term use of traditional antipsychotic drugs. ... Metoclopramide is a parasympathomimetic, and is also a potent dopamine antagonist that enters the central nervous system. ... The term antipsychotic is applied to a group of drugs used to treat psychosis. ... Sedation is a medical procedure involving administration of sedative drugs, generally to facilitate a medical procedure, such as endoscopy, or minor surgery with local anaesthesia. ... Propofol is an intravenous anesthetic agent used for the induction of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 3 years of age; maintenance of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 2 months of age; and intensive care unit (ICU) sedation for intubated, mechanically... Hemorrhage (alternate spelling is Haemorrhage) is the medical term meaning bleeding. ... Misoprostol is a prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) analogue used for the treatment and prevention of stomach ulcers. ...

See also

• Contraindication
• Complication (medicine)
• Drug interaction
• Evidence-based medicine
• FDA
• Iatrogenesis
• List of withdrawn drugs
• Medical algorithm
• Medical prescription
• Responsible drug use
• Perioperative mortality
• Toxicology

In medicine, a contraindication is a condition or factor that increases the risk involved in using a particular drug, carrying out a medical procedure or engaging in a particular activity. ... Complication, in medicine, is a unfavorable evolution of a disease, a health condition or a medical treatment. ... Drug interaction is a situation in which two or more separate drugs have been absorbed into the body and their effects are affected by each other, i. ... Evidence-based medicine is a medical movement based upon the application of the scientific method to medical practice, including long-established existing medical traditions not yet subjected to adequate scientific scrutiny. ... The United States Food and Drug Administration is the government agency responsible for regulating food, dietary supplements, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, biologics and blood products in the United States. ... An iatrogenic (pronounced [aI%{.tr@UdZE.nIk], SAMPA) condition is a state of ill health or adverse effect caused by medical treatment, usually due to mistakes made in treatment. ... Some drugs have been withdrawn from the market subsequently to their introduction due to risks for the patients. ... A medical algorithm is any computation, formula, survey, or look-up table, useful in healthcare. ... A medical prescription (℞) is a written order by a medical doctor to a pharmacist for a treatment to be provided to the doctors patient. ... The concept of responsible drug use is that a person can (for recreational, creative, spiritual, or entheogenic purposes) use a drug without it interfering in other parts of ones life and with no risk of danger to oneself or others. ... Perioperative mortality is mortality in relation to surgery, usually taken as death within two weeks of a surgical procedure. ... Toxicology (from the Greek words toxicon and logos) is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. ...

External links

• Side Effects 3.0 (http://www.herbal-software.com/files/DrugsSE.exe) - Software for learning about Adverse Drug Reactions of Herbs, Vitamins, Minerals and Food items
• ADRD.org (http://adrd.org) - Searchable Database of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs)
• Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin (http://www.tga.gov.au/adr/aadrb.htm) - published bimonthly by ADRAC
• DrugIntel.com (http://www.drugintel.com/drugs/) - 'Drugs of Concern' (site for tort lawyers with up-to-date information on drugs that cause severe adverse effects)
• FDA.gov (http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/MedErrors/default.htm) - 'Medication Errors'
• FDA.gov (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety.htm) - Medical Product Safety Information (MedWatch, useful page from FDA, listing safety alerts for drugs, biologics, devices and dietary supplements, recalls, market withdrawals, public health advisories, links to the VAERS and MAUDE databases, etc.)* NIH.gov (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drugandmedicaldevicesafety.html) - 'Drug and Medical Devices Safety', National Library of Medicine (Medline Plus, useful lists of conventional drug and medical device articles and websites)