Abstract
Administration of pravastatin to patients with hypercholesterolemia has been reported to improve peripheral hemodynamics of the systemic circulatory system. Therefore, we studied the target values of treatment to lower total cholesterol (TC) for reliable improvement of hemodynamics. The subjects were 28 patients with hypercholesterolemia (TC≥220 mg/dl) who showed a decrease of TC values of at least 15% when administered pravastatin at a dose of 10 mg/day for 8 to 10 months. These patients were divided into three groups: group A (TC under 200 mg/dl), group B (200-220) and group C (220 or higher) according to the TC values after treatment. Changes in the hemodynamics were compared before and after pravastatin treatment. After treatment with pravastatin, no changes in blood pressure, heart rate and aortic damping factor were observed ; only group A showed decreases in the pulse wave velocity and total peripheral resistance, an increase in cardiac output, shortening of the hemodynamic ICT and PEP, and an increase in ET/PEP. Therefore, the target TC for treatment with pravastatin which can be expected to improve the hemodynamics is considered to be less than 200 mg/dl.
