Abnormal blood vessel formations can cause cardiac problems, pain, and bleeding.The same properties of thalidomide, the prevention of blood vessel development , which resulted in birth defects when it was administered to pregnant women, have sparked interest in its therapeutic potential in other domains.
Some people with AVMs can live relatively normal lives, but even in less severe cases, there is always the risk that the abnormal tangles of blood vessels can burst and may cause a stroke when in the brain. About one in every hundred AVM patients suffers a stroke each year. They were aged between 19 – 70 and all had severe malformations that could not be treated by conventional approaches. Patients had to agree to use contraception for at least four weeks before starting thalidomide and to continue for four weeks after the cessation of treatment. Since thalidomide is present in semen, men also had to agree to use condoms during sex.
“All the patients experienced a rapid reduction of pain, together with the cessation of bleeding and the healing of ulcers where these were present,” says Professor Vikkula. “The three patients with cardiac failure also saw their problems resolved, and one AVM appeared to be completely cured after 19 months of thalidomide and an eight-year follow-up.
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