Pre-operative Lipid Control with Simvastatin

18 Aug, 10

Purpose

To evaluate if preoperative lipid control using simvastatin reduces the risk of postoperative thrombocytosis

Randomized study

77 patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease and hypercholesterolemia, planned for CABG.

No preoperation lipid control (group 1; n=37) vs simvastatin 20 mg daily 4 weeks prior to surgery (group 2; n=40)

In group 2, total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol ratio were significantly lowered by simvastatin (-2 and 29% respectively).
Postoperative thrombocytosis (platelet count > 400000/micromol) occurred significantly in group 1 (81%) compared with 3% in group 2.
Myocardial infarction after the 7th postoperative day was more often diagnosed in group 1, 14 vs 0% in group 2.
Postoperative transient renal failure occurred also more significantly more frequently in group 1, 24% compared with 8% in group 2.

Lipid control with simvastatin prior to CABG reduces the risk of postoperative thrombocytosis, thus lowers the risk for thrombotic complications.

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery 1999;15:394-9