Re: Another lipid question

[Guest guest]

last week's statin study was funded b y the statin company. Crestor..

According to last week's statin study, per the public media, MOST people should be on a statin.

I have a 43 yr old male patient who had some sort of femoral artery cath as a premie, some kind of bypass, 43 yrs ago and survived without complications. He has since lived a very healthy life. He runs etc... 2 yrs ago he started to get symptoms of claudication in the right leg. The testing showed very little flow through that area where the cath had been. He had a femoral artery bypass using a synthetic graft and is completely symptom free. His vascular surgeon said he was good to go and needed nothing else. He feels great and is back to running.

His insurance company keeps sending me notes saying he needs to be on a statin since he has peripheral vascular disease. I keep writing letters explaining that this was a traumatic event. They keep sending me the form letter back saying he needs to be on a statin. I'm at home right now and don't know his numbers for lipids, but his total cholesterol is like 170 and his ldl is under 110 somewhere. They are normal for someone who has no other risk factors. He does have mild hypertension which is under good control.

Does he need to be on a statin just because he has a synthetic graft? Is that enough risk to show benefit from a statin? I'm sure his ldl would be less than 70 with even a low to moderate dose. His vascular surgeon didn't seem to think he needed one, but ultimately, that guy isn't who is responsible for it.

Any thoughts? I'm really hoping I am right and not medco. Kris

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