Lipid-Lowering Agents

One of the most important jobs as an anesthesiologist is to reduce the incidence of adverse perioperative outcome and reduce the incidence of morbidity and mortality associated with various surgeries. Historically, this has been done through applying various medical therapies perioperatively and even postoperatively. Searching for the best therapies is a constant, ongoing pursuit to better the field of anesthesiology. Two huge examples of this ongoing pursuit to find medical therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality in the perioperative period include the use of pre-incision prophylactic antibiotics and perioperative beta-blockade. Another huge modality that is gaining interest is the use of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, also known as statins, as well as other lipid-lowering drugs.