In the worst cases, frostbite can cause the tissues in fingers, toes, noses and other extremities to die and require amputation. Now doctors in the United States have a way to save patients from these life-altering effects.
In February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the country’s first medication to treat severe frostbite. In a clinical trial, the drug, iloprost, greatly reduced amputations in nearly all the frostbite patients who received it.
Although frostbite affects a relatively small number of people in the United States — a few thousand annually — it is a major concern for people who must spend a lot of time outside in the
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