Lipid-Lowering Effects of Fluvastatin in Renal Transplant Patients. A Clinical Observation

Abstract

A Atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular disease remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in renal transplant patients. We assessed the efficacy and safety of the newer synthetic HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, fluvastatin, in 12 renal transplant patients who remained hypercholesterolemic, despite having been on the American Heart Association (AHA) Step I diet for 6 weeks. At 8 weeks, compared to the control phase, fluvastatin therapy, 20 mg/day, reduced the total cholesterol (TC) from 321 ± 57 [± SD] to 301 ± 123 mg/dl (p=0.3); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), from 209 ± 56 to 176 ± 81 mg/dl (p=0.2); and the triglyceride (TG) levels from 343 ± 119 to 277 ± 117 mg/dl (p=0.06); all these changes were statistically insignificant. However, the therapy significantly increased the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) from 37 ± 11 to 46 ± 13 mg/dl (p=0.006). During this short-term treatment period no adverse biochemical effects were noted with the therapy.