Heparin and Pigs; Anticoagulants; Ovarian Freezing and Cancer; Thumb surgery
Inside Health
BBC
4.4 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 2 October 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark Porter reports on shortages of Heparin, a drug to treat blood clots, due to swine fever in Chinese pigs! And staying with anticoagulants Margaret McCartney discusses concerns about taking these drugs along with common pain killers like ibuprofen. Why is this a risky combination? And Alice tells her story of opting for ovarian freezing, the latest technique to preserve fertility when undergoing cancer treatment. Plus a pioneering new type of surgery for arthritis of the thumb.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, |
| 0:05.4 | The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's |
| 0:10.6 | Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Ryland, and comedy specials |
| 0:16.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommas Shranger Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked. |
| 0:24.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.5 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:34.8 | Hello, coming up today, freezing ovarian tissue, the latest technique to preserve fertility in women |
| 0:40.9 | undergoing treatment for cancer, and it's available on the NHS. Stiff, painful hands. I meet a surgeon |
| 0:47.9 | pioneering a new type of implant for arthritis of the thumb, and anticoagulants. |
| 1:00.6 | If you're on a regular blood thinner and you also take anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen or naproxin for aches and pains, |
| 1:05.0 | then do stay tuned for our report on risky drug combinations. |
| 1:09.9 | And talking of anticoagulants, we start with more news of drug shortages. |
| 1:28.5 | We reported earlier in the year how supplies of some common medicines like blood pressure pills were drying up. More recently, it's been difficulty obtaining HRT that's made the headlines and it looks like the next shortage is going to be heparin. An injectable drug used to treat and prevent blood clots in people like those undergoing surgery, |
| 1:31.3 | some pregnant women and patients with cancer. |
| 1:36.4 | Only this time, it's not only the NHS that's struggling to get adequate supplies. |
| 1:42.0 | It's likely to be a global problem, and the supply issues are all to do with these. |
| 1:51.0 | Sorry, the sound effects archive was just too tempting. But what's the connection? |
| 1:53.0 | Beverly Hunt is professor of thrombosis and hemostasis at Guy and St Thomas' hospitals in London. |
| 1:59.0 | It's actually due to the fact that the global supply of heparin comes mainly from China |
| 2:04.0 | and it comes from pigs. |
| 2:05.9 | Isn't it amazing that in 2019 we're using pig products? |
| 2:10.2 | Well, I'm slightly embarrassed as a doctor who's prescribed this a lot. |
... |
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