Actions and toxicity of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) continues to grow, despite the known potential toxic risks associated with it, probably because these drugs palliate pain and inflammation and are relatively well tolerated. Unfortunately, NSAID use has not been shown to have long-term beneficial effects on the natural history of inflammatory diseases. Regardless, the NSAID market has reached the 2.2 billion dollar mark, with 73,000,000 prescriptions written yearly throughout the world. Although individual toxic events are relatively rare, the large number of NSAID prescriptions ensures that all the possible potential adverse events will likely be encountered by some patients. Over the past year, interesting additions to the literature have been made regarding the mechanisms of action as well as adverse reactions associated with NSAIDs.