Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 44 No. 2, 2005.
Case report
Lipid Lowering Treatment in Secondary Stroke Prevention
Marijana Lisak
Zlatko Trkanjec
Vida Demarin
Abstract
Secondary preventive measures such as measuring serum cholesterol levels and treatment of hypercholesterolemia with statins, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are insufficiently used in patients with acute stroke or transient ischemic attack, although statins offer potential benefits for reducing the incidence and improving the prognosis of stroke. Besides lipid lowering, statins could have additional effects such as improvement of endothelial-dependent flow-mediated vasodilatation, modulating inflammatory response, decreasing clot formation, and decreasing platelet adherence to ruptured plaque, thus stabilizing the atherosclerotic plaque. Other antiatherosclerotic properties of statins include reduction of inflammatory cell accumulation in atherosclerotic plaques, inhibition of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, inhibition of platelet function, and improvement of vascular endothelial function. Randomized clinical trials and evidence based medicine support the role of statin therapy in preventing ischemic stroke in patients at risk of cerebrovascular disease.
Keywords
Cerebrovascular accident - prevention and control; Cerebrovascular accident - etiology; Lipoproteins - drug effects; Hypercholesterolemia - drug therapy; Risk factors; Anticholesteremic agents
Hrčak ID:
14260
URI
Publication date:
1.6.2005.
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