It should be used with caution in people with chronic infections like HIV or hepatitis B. Adverse effects
Thalidomide causes birth defects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies have approved marketing of the drug only with an auditable risk evaluation and mitigation strategy that ensures that people using the drug are aware of the risks and avoid pregnancy; this applies to both men and women, as the drug can be transmitted in semen.There is a high risk that thalidomide can cause excessive blood clots. There is also a high risk that thalidomide can interfere with formation of various kinds of new blood cells, creating a risk of infection via neutropenia, leukopenia, and lymphopenia, and risks that blood will not clot via thrombocytopenia. There is also a risk of anemia via lack of red blood cells. The drug can also damage nerves, causing potentially irreversible peripheral neuropathy.Thalidomide has several adverse cardiovascular effects, including risk of heart attacks, pulmonary hypertension, and changes in heart rhythm, such as syncope, bradycardia, and atrioventricular block.Thalidomide can cause liver damage and severe skin reactions like Stevens–Johnson syndrome. It tends to make people sleepy, which creates risk when driving and operating other machinery. As it kills cancer cells, it can cause tumor lysis syndrome.
In medicine, a catheter (/ˈkæθətər/) is a thin tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. Catheters are manufactured for specific applications, such as cardiovascular, urological, gastrointestinal, neurovascular and ophthalmic procedures. The process of inserting a catheter is catheterization. In most uses, a catheter is a thin, flexible tube (soft catheter) though catheters are available in varying levels of stiffness depending on the application. A catheter left inside the body, either temporarily or permanently, may be referred to as an "indwelling catheter" (for example, a peripherally inserted central catheter). A permanently inserted catheter may be referred to as a "permcath" (originally a trademark). Catheters can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel, brain, skin or adipose tissue. Functionally, they allow drainage, administration of fluids or gases, access by surgical instruments, and also perform a wide variety of other tasks depending on the type of catheter. Special types of catheters, also called probes, are used in preclinical or clinical research for sampling of lipophilic and hydrophilic compounds, protein-bound and unbound drugs, neurotransmitters, peptides and proteins, antibodies, nanoparticles and nanocarriers, enzymes and vesicles. Etymology
"Catheter" (from Greek καθετήρ kathetḗr) comes from the Greek verb καθίεμαι kathíemai, meaning "to thrust into" or "to send down" because the catheter allowed fluid to be "sent down" from the body.