FDA Consumer Magazine -- October 1992
Table of Contents

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Patient Restraints: Improving Safety, Reducing Use
Recent reports of injuries and deaths with patient restraints, used mostly on older sick people, have made FDA and the health-care industry examine whether these devices are used more often than needed and how they can be made safer if they must be used.

FDA to the Rescue
No stranger to emergencies, FDA is often involved in helping set things straight after disasters, such as hurricanes, nuclear meltdowns, earthquakes, and spills of oil and other contaminants.

Tricks to Treating Sinus Problems
For many people, this common nose-clogging, face-hurting ailment is merely a discomfort that OTC products can relieve. But for others, its complications can become life-threatening. How do you know when it's bad enough to see a doctor?

New Initiatives for Import Safety
In a stepped-up effort to protect consumers from dangerous foreign foods, drugs, devices, and cosmetics, FDA is cracking down on companies that flagrantly violate U.S. import laws.

The Long and Short of It: New Medications for Growth Disorders
When a child's growth doesn't progress normally, parents may seek medical help. Several new drugs can set a child on the right growth track, but their use is sometimes controversial.

Aneurysms Difficult to Diagnose, Complex to Cure
Often symptomless, aneurysms may be diagnosed by chance when a person is having an x-ray or ultrasound imaging for another reason. Drugs and surgery are used to treat these balloon-like swellings of blood vessel walls, which can be fatal if they burst.

(Hypertext updated by clb March 16, 1998)