The Role of Statins in the Management of Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Siskos, Dimitrios; Tziomalos, Konstantinos

doi:10.3390/diseases6040102

Volume 6, Issue 4

Article Versions

Related Info

More by Authors

Export Article

Open AccessReview

The Role of Statins in the Management of Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Dimitrios Siskos¹ and Konstantinos Tziomalos^2,*

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart Center, University Hospital Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany

First Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Diseases 2018, 6(4), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases6040102

Received: 13 October 2018 / Revised: 3 November 2018 / Accepted: 8 November 2018 / Published: 11 November 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Lipid Lowering Therapies for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases: Lessons from the Past and Future Challenges)

Full-Text

PDF [182 KB, uploaded 11 November 2018]

Abstract

Each year, a large number of patients undergo coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG) worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that the preoperative administration of statins might be useful in preventing adverse events after CABG. In the present review, we discuss the role of statins in the perioperative management of patients undergoing CABG. Preoperative administration of statins in these patients substantially reduces the risk of postoperative atrial fibrillation and shortens hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Atorvastatin appears to be more effective, particularly when administered at high doses. Given these benefits and the safety of statins, their administration should be considered in patients undergoing CABG, even though the statins do not appear to affect the incidence of cardiovascular events and overall mortality perioperatively. View Full-Text

Keywords: statins; coronary artery bypass grafting; pleiotropic actions; atrial fibrillation; stroke; acute kidney injury

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).