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Cardiologist Increased Dose Of Crestor. Lost Left Kidney And Renal Artery. On Renal Diet, GFR Is 67. Advise?

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Posted on Mon, 27 May 2013
Question: are there any nephrologists on line? I have a question regarding statins and CRF
My question is my cardiologist wants to increase my daily Crestor from 20mg to 40mg because he doesn't think my LDL is low enough and wants it under 50. My total cholesterol is 122, HDL is 47, LDL is 62 & trigl. are 100. I am concerned about increasing the dose of the Crestor because I am afraid it may hurt my remaining kidney (I lost my left kidney & renal artery 2 years ago to what they think was an acute metabolic event). I have been on a renal diet ever since and my GFR on the remaining kidney is 67 - creatinine is 0.9 and BUN is 10. My nephrologist relocated to another state and I am not confident in his replacement yet thus I am emailing you. It is advisable for me to take a chance with my remaining kidney to double the dose of Crestor with my lipid numbers ?
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Answered by Dr. Sree Bhushan Raju (27 hours later)
Hi,

Most of the statins are safe and efficacious beyond lipid lowering. They have been under use since a decade. Your LDL levels though appear to be good and okay, your cardiologist must have thought of lowering it further down as per your cardiac risk.

As far as kidney disease and statins are concerned, Atorvastatin is safe and can be given at even at higher doses. You have to be careful about muscle toxicity of statin at higher levels. You can check CPK before and a week after taking statin. If you develop any kind of muscle pains, you better stop and go back to your cardiologist.

We tend to use the atorvastatin even up to 80 mg in patients with stroke and safety is already proven clinically.
Note: For further queries related to kidney problems and comprehensive renal care, talk to a Nephrologist. Click here to Book a Consultation.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
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Answered by
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Dr. Sree Bhushan Raju

Nephrologist

Practicing since :1994

Answered : 92 Questions

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Cardiologist Increased Dose Of Crestor. Lost Left Kidney And Renal Artery. On Renal Diet, GFR Is 67. Advise?

Hi,

Most of the statins are safe and efficacious beyond lipid lowering. They have been under use since a decade. Your LDL levels though appear to be good and okay, your cardiologist must have thought of lowering it further down as per your cardiac risk.

As far as kidney disease and statins are concerned, Atorvastatin is safe and can be given at even at higher doses. You have to be careful about muscle toxicity of statin at higher levels. You can check CPK before and a week after taking statin. If you develop any kind of muscle pains, you better stop and go back to your cardiologist.

We tend to use the atorvastatin even up to 80 mg in patients with stroke and safety is already proven clinically.