Cerebral Vasospasm Pharmacological Treatment: An Update

Table 3

Summary of clinical data regarding statins in the management of cerebral vasospasm.

Authors/year of publication	Type of study	Number of patients	Results
Tseng et al. (2005) [95]	Randomized prospective study	80 patients	The incidence of vasospasm and severe vasospasm were reduced by 32% (𝑃=0.006) and 42% (𝑃=0.044), respectively. The duration of severe vasospasm was shortened by 0.8 days (𝑃=0.068) in the pravastatin group. The duration of impaired autoregulation was shortened bilaterally (𝑃 < or = 0.01), and the incidence of vasospasm-related DINDs and mortality were decreased by 83% (𝑃<0.001) and 75% (𝑃=0.037), respectively, in the pravastatin group.
Lynch et al. (2005) [96]	Randomized prospective study	39 patients were randomized to receive either simvastatin (80 mg daily; 𝑛=19) or placebo (𝑛=20) for 14 days.	The highest mean middle cerebral artery transcranial Doppler velocities were significantly lower in the simvastatin-treated group (103 ± 41 versus 149 ± 47; 𝑃<0.01). In addition, vasospasm was significantly reduced (𝑃<0.05) in the simvastatin-treated group (5 of 19) compared with those receiving placebo. No patients developed clinical symptoms of myopathy or hepatitis. von Willebrand factor and S100beta were decreased in patients receiving simvastatin.