Statin usage reduce fewer side effects & complications of bypass surgery

To reduce the chance of complications, doctors would usually recommend patients stop taking as many medications as possible, including statins.

But, while it has already been proven in the past that statins can indeed help in lowering the blood cholesterol levels, there are still a lot of things that medical experts do not know about these drugs. A different 2015 study had also found that statin use after surgery, not necessarily heart surgery, lowered the risk of heart problems. The doctors compared the chances of negative side effects and health events of statins between those who took the drugs before and after surgery and those who didn’t.

Since major operations in which anesthesia is involved leads to the patient’s body suffering a strong inflammatory reaction, the statins, which have very powerful anti-inflammatory properties might fight said inflammation and improve chances of recovery.

The researchers have suggested that patients should start taking a statin before bypass surgery, if they are not taking it and those who are taking it, should keep on doing so.

Dr. Elgendy: More research is needed on the optimal dose and duration of statin use, as well as its benefits in reducing the risk of stroke, heart attack, or renal failure after surgery.

But while the researchers found statins were well-tolerated by patients before bypass surgery, they also found they are vastly underused.

Dr. Barakat and colleagues, including Islam Y. Elgendy, MD, from the University of Florida in Gainesville, examined statin use both before and after surgery to evaluate the medication’s impact on patient outcomes.

In a review of recent studies on the use of statins before and after CABG, researchers found that statins were associated with a 58 percent reduction in the incidence of atrial fibrillation. Also, those with a risk of 7.5% should do the same as a preventive measure.

“Previous research has shown that discontinuation of the medication at the time of surgery is common practice”. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year approximately 610,000 Americans die of heart disease, which represents an amount of 1 in every 4 deaths is the country. “Statin use also seems to be associated with a reduced risk of death during and immediately after surgery”.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “The majority of published evidence supports the current advice on taking statins and some of the best evidence about the safety and effectiveness of statins has come from the Heart Protection Study, which was research funded by the public through donations to the BHF and tax payer funding via the Medical Research Council”. With this, he added that their work calls for more actions to inform patients and surgeons about the positive effects of statins.