Got statins? UF cardiologists recommend new use for old drug

Cardiologists at the University of Florida are pointing to a new use for an old therapy. Giving patients cholesterol-lowering statins before surgery and other invasive procedures can halve the risk of heart attacks, deaths and other complications, they report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
"The magnitude of benefit we found in terms of reducing mortality, post-procedure myocardial infarctions and reduction in atrial fibrillation after bypass surgery is really quite large," said first author David Winchester, M.D., a cardiology fellow in the College of Medicine's department of medicine. "If you look at some of the other interventions we use, such as using beta blockers before surgery, you don't get nearly the kind of benefit that we are seeing with using statins prior to procedures. That is very surprising."
The results strongly support the routine use of statin therapy before invasive procedures, experts say.
Statins are known for their ability to lower cholesterol. But a different mechanism is at play in reduction of postsurgery complications. Although researchers have not pinpointed the specifics, they have clues about how statins work to benefit patients after surgery.
After invasive procedures such as coronary artery angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery or major vascular surgery, the risk of heart attack is raised thanks to a combination of factors. Just the act of inserting wires and catheters directly into major blood vessels can cause physical damage to those vessels or dislodge unstable plaques that then travel in the bloodstream and restrict blood flow to the very artery that cardiologists and surgeons are trying to mend.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Statins