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Statins in Liver Cirrhosis

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Pharmacotherapy for Liver Cirrhosis and Its Complications

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Abstract

A broad group of physicians is still afraid of administering statins because of the myth of statin toxicity and frequent statin-related nocebo effects. However, due to the statins cholesterol independent mechanism of action -pleiotropic effects, the focus on these drugs has shifted from harmful to helpful in patients with chronic liver disease. Recently, and most likely through these mentioned effects, statins were associated with significant clinical outcomes in these patients. Although only through experimental trials, this chapter describes the efficacy of statins in matter topics of Hepatology as portal hypertension, decompensated cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Finally, there is a discussion regarding the safety of statins in decompensated cirrhosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sección Hepatología, Hospital Dr. Carlos Bonorino Udaondo, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alberto E. Muñoz, Mariano Cartier & Ayelén B. Kisch

  2. Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud Pública, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alberto E. Muñoz

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  1. Alberto E. Muñoz
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  2. Mariano Cartier
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  3. Ayelén B. Kisch
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Correspondence to Alberto E. Muñoz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, China

    Xingshun Qi

  2. Faculty of Liver Disease of Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, The Fifth Medical Center of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, China

    Yongping Yang

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No funding was received to design and undertake this study and to write this manuscript. In most cases, when research and studies are initiated and conducted in Argentina by the researchers, there is no funding from any public or private institution as they are made with financial contributions from the researchers.

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Muñoz, A.E., Cartier, M., Kisch, A.B. (2022). Statins in Liver Cirrhosis. In: Qi, X., Yang, Y. (eds) Pharmacotherapy for Liver Cirrhosis and Its Complications. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2615-0_12

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