Fluvastatin in the treatment of dyslipidemia associated with chronic kidney failure and renal transplantation

Premature atherosclerotic coronary heart disease driven by multiple risk factors is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among the 6 million patients in the United States with chronic renal failure. Consensus is that kidney failure and renal transplantation patients should be treated aggressively for dyslipidemia. Major medical literature databases were searched for published information about fluvastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, used in patients with impaired renal function. This article characterizes the dyslipidemia observed in these clinical settings and reviews the clinical experience with fluvastatin.