CAVEATS
Carefully selected patients
Many wounds will heal with compression therapy alone, as occurred in this study, in which 50% of ulcers ≤ 5 cm treated with standard therapy healed, albeit at a somewhat slower rate. Adding another medication to the regimen when target patients generally have multiple comorbidities should always prompt caution.
The study by Evangelista et al1 was performed in a select population, and the exclusion criteria included the use of some commonly prescribed medications, such as ACE inhibitors. No data were collected on patient BMI, which is a risk factor for delayed healing.
The prevalence of obesity is lower in the Philippines than in the US. It is uncertain what role this difference would have in the statin’s effectiveness.
Further studies, especially those conducted with a less selective population, would better clarify the generalizability of this intervention.
Nontheless, we found the results of this study impressive. The methods reported are rigorous and consistent with standard RCT methodologies.
This is the only study of a statin in human venous stasis disease, but studies in animals—and studies of statins for other types of ulcers in humans—have consistently suggested benefit. It seems hard to argue against adding this low-cost, low-risk intervention.
CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION
There are no known barriers to implementation of this practice.
REFERENCES
1. Evangelista MT, Casintahan MF, Villafuerte LL. Simvastatin as a novel therapeutic agent for venous ulcers: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Br J Dermatol. 2014; 170:1151-1157.
2. Collins L, Seraj S. Diagnosis and treatment of venous ulcers. Am Fam Physician. 2010;81: 989-996.
3. The Australian Wound Management Association Inc, New Zealand Wound Care Society Inc. Australian and New Zealand clinical practice guideline for prevention and management of venous leg ulcers (2011). www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/ext003_venous_leg_ulcers_aust_nz_0.pdf. Accessed March 21, 2015.
4. Johansen OE, Birkeland KI, Jørgensen AP, et al. Diabetic foot ulcer burden may be modified by high-dose atorvastatin: a 6-month randomized controlled pilot trial. J Diabetes. 2009; 1:182-187.
5. Farsaei S, Khalili H, Farboud ES, et al. Efficacy of topical atorvastatin for the treatment of pressure ulcers: a randomized clinical trial. Pharmacotherapy. 2014;34:19-27.
6. Abou-Raya A, Abou-Raya S, Helmii M. Statins: potentially useful in therapy of systemic sclerosis-related Raynaud’s phenomenon and digital ulcers. J Rheumatol. 2008;35:1801-1808.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The PURLs Surveillance System was supported in part by Grant Number UL1RR024999 from the National Center For Research Resources, a Clinical Translational Science Award to the University of Chicago. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center For Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.
Copyright © 2015. The Family Physicians Inquiries Network. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission from the Family Physicians Inquiries Network and The Journal of Family Practice. 2015;64(3):182-184.