Wednesday October 21, 2009
Statin prophylaxis and inflammatory mediators following cardiopulmonary bypass: a systematic review shows evidence is still missing!


Introduction: Induction of an inflammatory response is thought to have a significant role in the complications that follow cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The statin drugs are increasingly being recognized as having potent anti-inflammatory effects and hence have potential to influence an important mechanism of injury in CPB. Our objective was to systematically review if pre-operative prophylactic statin therapy, compared with placebo or standard of care, can decrease the inflammatory response in people undergoing heart surgery with CPB.

Results: Eight RCTs were included in the review, with the number of trials for each inflammatory outcome being even more limited.

• Pooled data demonstrated benefit with the use of statin to attenuate the post-CPB increase in interleukins 6 and 8 (IL-6, IL-8), peak high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) post-CPB.
• Very limited RCT evidence suggests that prophylactic statin therapy may also decrease adhesion molecules following CPB including neutrophil CD11b and soluble P (sP)-selectin.

Conclusions: Although the RCT evidence may suggest a reduction in post-CPB inflammation by statin therapy, the evidence is not definitive due to significant limitations. Several of the trials were not methodologically rigorous and statin intervention was highly variable in this small number of studies. This systematic review demonstrates that there is a significant gap that exists in the current literature in regards to the potential anti-inflammatory effect of statin therapy prior to CPB.



Reference: click to abstract

Statin prophylaxis and inflammatory mediators following cardiopulmonary bypass: a systematic review: Critical Care 2009, 13:R165 (19 October 2009)