Kidney Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Kidney Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Ezetimibe in renal transplant patients with hyperlipidemia resistant to HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors.

Langone AJ, Chuang P

Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA. anthony.langone@vanderbilt.edu

Hyperlipidemia affects the majority of renal transplant patients. Multiple risk factors contribute to elevated serum cholesterol including the use of certain immunosuppressant agents. HMG-Co A reductase inhibitors have become the preferred class of cholesterol-lowering medication with an increasing body of evidence to support their safety, efficacy, and outcomes in both the normal and renal transplant populations. New guidelines recommend lowering previous LDL-c goals as outcomes appears to continually improve. As a result, ezetimibe has been added to patients with persistently elevated triglycerides and/or LDL-c in individuals who possessed a renal transplant and were deemed to be on a maximum safe dose of statin agent. After the addition of ezetimibe, total cholesterol, LDL-c, and triglycerides fell by 21%, 31%, and 13%, respectively. Creatinine phosphokinase, liver enzyme serum levels, and renal function were not affected to any level of clinical significance with the addition of ezetimibe. Large interpatient variability of measurable immunosuppressant levels was seen but no serious adverse events were attributed to a change in levels.

Published 14 March 2006 in Transplantation, 81(5): 804-7.
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