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(Stroke. 2008;39:e134.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Statins Suppress the Development of Aneurysms: Fact or Fiction?

Department of Vascular Surgery, "Red Cross" Hospital, Athens, Greece, Honorary Clinical Research Fellow, Department of Clinical Biochemistry (Vascular Disease Prevention Clinic), Royal Free Hospital, London, UK

To the Editor:

A recent study on rats demonstrated that statins may suppress the development of cerebral aneurysms.¹ Similar results were reported in 2 independent experimental studies investigating the effects of statin therapy on abdominal aortic aneurysms.^2,3 Compared with placebo, treatment with simvastatin reduced both the overall extent of aortic dilatation, as well as the incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm development.^2,3

So far, the beneficial effects of statins on abdominal aortic aneurysm progression in humans have only been supported in 2 observational studies including 130⁴ and 150⁵ patients, respectively; regarding cerebral aneurysms, there is no similar report up-to-date.

Verification of the positive results from animal studies in randomized controlled trials on humans holds implications for the medical management of both abdominal aortic⁶ and cerebral¹ aneurysms.

Acknowledgments

Disclosures

None.

References

1. Aoki T, Kataoka H, Ishibashi R, Nozaki K, Hashimoto N. Simvastatin suppresses the progression of experimentally induced cerebral aneurysms in rats. Stroke. 2008; 39: 1276–1285.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2. Kalyanasundaram A, Elmore JR, Manazer JR, Golden A, Franklin DP, Galt SW, Zakhary EM, Carey DJ. Simvastatin suppresses experimental aortic aneurysm expansion. J Vasc Surg. 2006; 43: 117–124.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]

3. Steinmetz EF, Buckley C, Shames ML, Ennis TL, Vanvickle-Chavez SJ, Mao D, Goeddel LA, Hawkins CJ, Thompson RW. Treatment with simvastatin suppresses the development of abdominal aortic aneurysms in normal and hypercholesterolemic mice. Ann Vasc Surg. 2005; 24: 92–101.

4. Sukhija R, Aronow WS, Sandhu R, Kakar P, Babu S. Mortality and size of abdominal aortic aneurysm at long-term follow-up of patients not treated surgically and treated with and without statins. Am J Cardiol. 1996; 97: 279–280.[CrossRef]

5. Schouten O, van Laanen JH, Boersma E, Vidakovic R, Feringa HH, Dunkelgrun M, Bax JJ, Koning J, van Urk H, Poldermans D. Statins are associated with a reduced infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm growth. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2006; 32: 21–26.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]

6. Paraskevas KI, Liapis CD, Hamilton G, Mikhailidis DP. Are statins an option in the management of abdominal aortic aneurysms? Vasc Endovascular Surg. 2008; 42: 128–134.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 39/8/e134    most recent STROKEAHA.107.521070v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Paraskevas, K. I. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Paraskevas, K. I.