Two days ago, a patient asked if the antihypertensive drug caused cancer. I couldn’t help but remember that this was an event that happened last year. on July 5, 2018 the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued an announcement that the API valsartan produced by China’s Huahai Pharmaceuticals was detected to contain N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), an impurity whose content far exceeded the EU’s customized standards! With the risk of cancer, so are all antihypertensive drugs at risk? Today Xin Yi classroom to answer your questions? 1.What is N-nitrosodimethylamine? This is a relatively dangerous carcinogen! The general public may not know what it is simply by seeing this name! However, in the “Fudan poisoning” case that shocked the whole country, the N-nitrosodimethylamine compound was used, and it is a drug that can kill people when used in large quantities! In fact, N-nitrosodimethylamine belongs to the 2A class of carcinogenic substances, but this mainly refers to the corresponding data support in animal experiments, the evidence of human carcinogenicity is still limited, so the carcinogenic effect on humans is not yet clear. 2.What is valsartan? Hypertensive patients should not be unfamiliar with the name valsartan! It is a first-line recommended antihypertensive drug that belongs to the angiotensin II receptor antagonist (ARB) class of antihypertensive drugs! Because the name usually ends with sartan, so it is also called “sartan” class of antihypertensive drugs. In addition to antihypertensive effect, there are also independent lowering proteinuria and delay the role of kidney damage, is the first choice for young and middle-aged hypertension, hypertension with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, myocardial hypertrophy, heart failure patients with drugs! 3, there are problems valsartan has been recalled, do not worry In the face of this problem, we must first sort out one thing! The carcinogen is not an inherent component of the valsartan drug, Huahai Pharmaceuticals also said that because of the pharmaceutical process accidentally mixed, so not all valsartan class antihypertensive drugs are at risk! And there are problems with the manufacturer’s production of drugs have all been recalled, the State Food and Drug Administration has also increased its efforts to regulate and review, the current use of valsartan drugs are qualified products, you can rest assured that the use of valsartan drugs. Therefore it is not sensible to reject all brands of valsartan, after all, valsartan is an excellent cardiovascular drug that has been clinically proven for a long time. In addition there are many kinds of antihypertensive drugs, and there are many varieties of the same class of drugs, so you do not have to worry at all. 4, hypertension can not stop the drug, blood pressure fluctuations are harmful! ”Antihypertensive drugs contain carcinogens” this news, many patients are taking valsartan natural panic, resulting in many patients even stop their own drugs! This is not true, the blood pressure standard because the role of the drug under the standard, if you stop the drug will lead to blood pressure rebound, causing blood pressure fluctuations, can cause heart, brain, kidney, blood vessels and other target organ damage. Therefore, after the diagnosis of hypertension, you must adhere to long-term drug therapy to control blood pressure at the target level, which can be beneficial to health. Finally, to tell you, in the future, see these similar news must not be taken out of context can not privately stop the medication, must go to the regular hospital to consult a cardiologist to help you solve the doubts and problems is the most correct choice.