Statin Drugs Useful In Helping Heart Disease

The biggest problem that occurs with a case of heart disease is the accumulation of plaque within the arteries surrounding the heart. When the arteries get a significant amount of plaque buildup, blood flow may be reduced and even stopped, resulting in cardiac arrest. Heart disease is a problem that affects a large amount of the population and without a doubt, it is the number one cause of death in the United States and most of Europe. For that reason, the rush to developing new medications has led pharmaceutical companies down many new avenues. In this article, we'll talk about a new type of drug known as statin drugs that have been shown to be of definite merit to the field of heart disease research.

Rosuvastatin is a type of drug that has been used classically to reduce levels of cholesterol, and it has been known to be very useful in doing so. However, new research that has been conducted by Dr. Sarah Jarvis has shown that significantly higher doses of the medication can actually work towards reversing the damage caused by heart disease. As opposed to the standardized doses of 10 or 20 milligrams, Jarvis gave patients 40 milligrams of the drug per day. Low density lipoprotein levels in the patients were found to decrease and high density lipoprotein levels increased, as was expected, but the arterial plaque that was present around the heart was found to have been decreased after being on the medication regimen. Four out of five patients that participated in the study saw some level of arterial plaque decrease. By halting the progression of the arterial plaques as well as actually reversing some of the current damage that is present, statin drugs represent a great hope for many who suffer from heart disease.

More studies need to be conducted in order to accurately gauge the efficiency of this new medication when it comes to it's occurrence of side effects. Rouvastatin has a checkered past, as it had been previously considered to be a contributor to a muscle wasting disease. However, after government studies were conducted, rouvastatin was determined to be safe and declared legal for use. While this is a comforting thought, the large doses that are recommended for use in this study are an aspect that needs to be considered when it comes to testing the drug in future ventures. In addition to the safety questions that the high doses of the potent drug create, it is also economically difficult for heart disease patients to be able to afford sufficient doses of the medicine.

While the jury is still out regarding the safety of consuming large doses of statin drugs, it is reassuring to know that we are making progress against heart disease. In the United States alone, a person dies as a result of heart disease every thirty four seconds. Any progress that we make against this devastating illness will be useful in forming new and better cures for heart disease in the years to come.