It was recently found in a study done by John Hopkins University that cardiac attacks were the leading cause of death for kidney failure patients. In a study done by the university it was found that more than 20% of the deaths in their study were the result of cardiac attack. This was the first study done that linked both kidney failure and cardiac attacks. There were a little bit over 1,000 patients in this ground breaking study and the study by John Hopkins University will be followed up by other universities to find out more information. It wasn’t until two years ago that it was found that heart bypass and kidney failure were linked together. This was discovered after countless studies were done to determine the effect of the drug Trasylol has on the human body.

Trasylol was a drug used in heart bypass surgery that was found to have been the cause of over 20,000 deaths in a 14-year span. The drug was temporarily suspended from the market after these studies were released in 2007. When Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the producer of Trasylol, was asked about the link between heart bypass and kidney failure they denied any claims that the drug was dangerous until the studies surfaced that undeniably connected the two together. Heart bypass surgery is heart surgery that is done on patients to repair blocked arteries in their heart that is most commonly caused by heart disease. Trasylol was the drug used in thousands of surgeries to lower the amount of blood loss during the surgery. Trasylol slows down the amount of blood loss by slowing down the process that leads to the breakdown of blood clots. This lowers the amount of blood transfusions needed during surgery as well as helps alleviate end organ damage because it decreases the risk of hypertension during surgery, which is directly correlated to blood loss. Although using Trasylol during surgery did help solve these two problems it also made patients more than two times as likely to go into kidney failure, renal failure, and even die. The drug was permanently taken off the market in May of 2008 because of the severity of the side effects and after the link between heart bypass and kidney failure was discovered.

Another devastating fact about Trasylol is that Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the creator of more than 20 other products besides Trasylol, was found to have knowledge that this drug was harmful and withheld their findings from doctors, the FDA, and even patients. If studies were not performed there is a chance that this cunning company could have got away with it, which is absolutely disgusting. The fact that such a huge producer of the drug would deliberately withhold information that caused so many deaths and would later show the link between heart bypass and kidney failure is very saddening. This is a company that we put our faith in when we use their products and by doing this they have lost the faith of a lot of customers.