Am J Health Syst Pharm
September 2004
Purpose: Efforts to reduce patients' out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs by incorporating pharmaceutical manufacturer assistance programs (PMAPs) into a private ambulatory care facility's pharmaceutical services are described.
Summary: From March 2001 through March 2002, the clinic's pharmacist prospectively evaluated patients for PMAP enrollment. The pharmacist completed the pharmaceutical manufacturer's application forms for patients identified as candidates for PMAP assistance and helped them obtain documentation.
Bucrylate (isobutyl 2-cyanoacrylate) was used for the transcatheter embolization of the splenic artery in 4 patients with bleeding gastric varices secondary to splenic vein thrombosis, 3 patients with symptoms of hypersplenism, and 8 patients with bleeding esophageal varices secondary to portal hypertension. The splenic artery was completely occluded in 13 patients and partially occluded in 2. In all but one of the patients, functioning splenic tissue was preserved and no abscess developed.
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