The News
Study: Drug saves digits in frostbite cases
By Doug Alden The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 06/19/2007 01:07:47 AM MDT
Salt Lake City - An anti-clotting drug used to treat strokes and heart attacks can also restore blood flow to frostbitten fingers and limbs, greatly reducing the need for amputation, according to a new study.
Doctors at the University of Utah who conducted the research on a small sample of patients hope it marks the start of a move beyond the traditional - and limited - treatment for frostbite.
"What it does is help to rescue that tissue that is damaged but not yet dead," said Dr. Stephen Morris, an authorof the study, which was released Monday in the Archives of Surgery medical journal.
Patients who received the thrombolytic therapy at the university's burn center were more likely to keep their frostbitten fingers and toes.

The Research
Read the research behind this story in the journal Archives of Surgery.