ABSTRACT
Statin therapy may be beneficial not only to reduce the risk of vascular events but also to reduce the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. We evaluated the effects of statins on electrophysiologic parameters in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and established ventricular tachyarrhythmia. Prospective study. Eleven patients [all male, mean age 57.9 +/- 6.64 years], with ischemic cardiomyopathy and ventricular tachyarrhythmia on admission were included in the study. Two academic tertiary care centers. A baseline electrophysiologic study was performed before implantable-cardioverter defibrillator [ICD] implantation. Forty milligram of atorvastatin was started and electrophysiologic study was repeated one month later and results were compared. Basic intervals, corrected sinus node recovery time [cSNRT], sino-atrial conduction time [SACT], atrio-ventricular node refractory period [AVNRP], atrio-ventricular Wenckebach period [AVWP], ventricular refractory period [VRP], ventriculo-atrial dissociation measurement, corrected QT [QTc] interval and QT dispersion were measured. Also, ventricular arrhythmia inducibility was evaluated with various techniques. Although, QTc interval and QT dispersion decreased significantly with statin treatment [p < 0.05], there were no statistically significant differences in the measurements of basic intervals, cSNRT, SACT, AVNRP, AVWP, VRP and ventriculo-atrial dissociation compared to pretreatment measurements [p > 0.05]. Additionally, while induction of ventricular tachyarrhythmia occurred in 72.7% of patients before statin therapy, this rate decreased to 36.4% with treatment [p - 0.13]. Statin treatment led to significant decreases in QTc interval and QT dispersion, but it did not change other electrophysiologic parameters significantly