Actor
Roy Scheider died recently from complications of myeloma. The IMF noted his death
here.
Apparently Mr. Scheider died from an infection, and some on the
ACOR list have speculated that the hospital
UAMS was somehow responsible for his death.
Certainly that is possible but I think it's more likely that his myeloma altered immune system couldn't protect him from infection and he died.
Altered immune function and thus susceptibilty to infection is characteristic of myeloma and very often overwhelming infection is what causes death in many if not most.
From the IMF publication
IMF: Concise Review 2007 by Brian Durie:
Richard was hospitalized this past week with what turned out to be
sepsis. His blood was infected with a
gram positive organism,
strep pneumoniae, a common bacteria that often causes ear and sinus infections.
His blood oxygen and blood pressure were very low, but fortunately he quickly responded to treatment and is now back home after two days in the ICU and five additional days in the hospital.
Since
pulmonary embolism, a possible side effect of both Revlimid and thalidomide, also can present with similar symptoms, Richard had ultrasounds of his legs to look for
DVT (deep vein thrombosis), as well as a lung scan.
His lungs were fine, but there was a clot in his right leg. Most likely the clot was not acute, meaning it had been there for some time. But now Richard will need to take
warfarin (Coumadin) to prevent future clots.
And so it goes......
pictured: streptococcus pneumoniae
Actor Roy Scheider died recently from complications of myeloma. The IMF noted his death here.
Apparently Mr. Scheider died from an infection, and some on the ACOR list have speculated that the hospital UAMS was somehow responsible for his death.
Certainly that is possible but I think it's more likely that his myeloma altered immune system couldn't protect him from infection and he died.
Altered immune function and thus susceptibilty to infection is characteristic of myeloma and very often overwhelming infection is what causes death in many if not most.
From the IMF publication IMF: Concise Review 2007 by Brian Durie:
Richard was hospitalized this past week with what turned out to be sepsis. His blood was infected with a gram positive organism, strep pneumoniae, a common bacteria that often causes ear and sinus infections.
His blood oxygen and blood pressure were very low, but fortunately he quickly responded to treatment and is now back home after two days in the ICU and five additional days in the hospital.
Since pulmonary embolism, a possible side effect of both Revlimid and thalidomide, also can present with similar symptoms, Richard had ultrasounds of his legs to look for DVT (deep vein thrombosis), as well as a lung scan.
His lungs were fine, but there was a clot in his right leg. Most likely the clot was not acute, meaning it had been there for some time. But now Richard will need to take warfarin (Coumadin) to prevent future clots.
And so it goes......
pictured: streptococcus pneumoniae