Preoperative lipid control with simvastatin reduces the risk for graft failure already 1 year after myocardial revascularization

Hypercholesterolemia is a recognized risk factor for development of atheros clerosis in both native coronary arteries and bypass grafts. Lipid-lowering therapy with statins is effective. Few data are available for studies on b ypass grafts. The influence of hypercholesterolemia on development of bypas s graft disease was studied. Clinical and angiographic follow up 1 yr after CABG of patients with a preo perative cholesterol > 6.2 mmol/l, with a preoperative lipid control (group 2) or controls (group 1) and patients with cholesterol < 4.7 mmol/l (group 3) were studied. Patient demographics, angiography and operation data-were the same in all the groups. Group 1 patients had significantly higher incidence of graft lesions, requi ring more interventions than Group 2, Sequential vein bypass grafts showed superior features compared to single vein grafts. Preoperative lipid control with statins is strongly recommended, since unco ntrolled hypercholesterolemia has a direct impact on the outcome of CABG pr ocedure. It significantly reduces the development of vein graft obstructive disease. (C) 2001 The International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, Pu blished by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.