Efficacy and Safety of High-Dose Atorvastatin in Moderate-to-High Cardiovascular Risk Postmenopausal Korean Women with Dyslipidemia

OBJECTIVE@#Postmenopausal women show a more atherogenic lipid profile and elevated cardiovascular risk compared to premenopausal women. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of high-dose atorvastatin on the improvement of the blood lipid profile of postmenopausal women in Korea.@*METHODS@#This study is a prospective, open-label, single-arm clinical trial that was conducted in 3 teaching hospitals. Postmenopausal women with a moderate-to-high cardiovascular risk, according to guidelines from the Korean Society of Lipid & Atherosclerosis, were enrolled. Participants were administered 20 mg of atorvastatin daily for the first 8 weeks, and if the targeted low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level was not achieved, the dose was increased to 40 mg for the second 8 weeks. The primary endpoint was percentage change of LDL-C from baseline after 16 weeks of drug administration.@*RESULTS@#Forty-four women were enrolled, 28 of whom (75.6%) had diabetes mellitus. By the end of treatment period (16 weeks) all patients had achieved LDL-C target levels, with 33 (94.2%) of the participants achieving it after only 8 weeks of administration. After 16 weeks, LDL-C decreased by 45.8±16.7% (p<0.001) from the baseline, and total cholesterol (33.2±10.9%; p<0.001), triglyceride (24.2±37.5%; p=0.001), and apolipoprotein B (34.9±15.6%; p<0.001) also significantly decreased. Blood glucose and liver enzyme levels slightly increased, but none of the participants developed serious adverse events that would cause them to prematurely withdraw from the clinical trial.@*CONCLUSION@#20 and 40 mg atorvastatin was effective and safe for treating dyslipidemia in postmenopausal Korean women with moderate-to-high cardiovascular risk.

Rhabdomyolysis Associated With Statin Medication, Exercise and Sauna

Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome involving the breakdown of skeletal muscle, and this causes myoglobin and other intracellular proteins and electrolytes to leak into the circulatory system. We report here on a case of rhabdomyolysis associated with statin, exercise and sauna exposure. A 63-year-old woman presented to our hospital, and she had been taking simvastatin for over 6 years due to dyslipidemia. She complained of developing myalgia and weakness of the lower extremities over the previous 5 days. She had used a sauna more than 4 hours daily for 20 years, and she had started unaccustomed exercise in the sauna 1 week prior to admission. Her serum creatine kinase concentration was 45,990 IU/L. Conservative treatment was started with the discontinuation of her statin medication, exercise and use of the sauna. Her symptoms and serum creatine kinase level decreased 1 week after admission and she was discharged with minimal residual muscle weakness.

A Case of Enema - Induced Colitis / 대한소화기내시경학회지

Enemas are sometimes used in hospital and domicilliary practice and occasionally by patients themselves without a valid indication. The present repart is one in which enernas were done for 3 months by a patient himself to treat his hemorrhoid and resulted in severe inflamimatory change with large-siaed illdefined shallow ulceration in rectum and sigmoid colon. This patient, a 53 year old male, entered the hospital with the complaint of diarrhea with passage of bloody muct.. Colonoscopic examination revealed severe inflammatory change, friable mucosa and several relatively large-sized ill-defined shallow ulceration in rectum and sigmoid colon. A biopsy was performed and microscapic examination revealed intense infiltrates and plasma cells and crypt abscess with decreased goblet cells in the lamiina propria. The submucosa showed edema with infiltrates of chronic inflammatory cells and neutrophils. Conservative treatment with discontinue of enemas and fluid supply was performed. And his symptoms were improved. After second week, follow-up colonoscopy revealed inflammatory changes were improved.