According to a new study, taking statins may lower the risk of a stroke after radiation treatment by 32%.
D'Amico said primary care doctors and cardiologists should decide whether a patient should take statins."I don't think you can use this data to support statin use in people undergoing radiation," he said."I don't think it changes practice right now."
For the study, Mousavi's team looked at more than 5,700 people over 65 years of age who had had a heart attack or stroke after having radiation therapy for chest, head or neck cancer. Nearly 4,200 of them were taking statins for heart disease. The concern about stroke after radiation to the head, neck and chest is real, said Dr. Dennis Kraus, vice chairman of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
"We don't do a very good job in terms of screening for it or even bringing it to patients' attention," Kraus said."Even though we know it occurs, we are so worried about people dying from cancer, we don't communicate that this is a risk down the road." Kraus said keeping an eye on a patient's risk for stroke after radiation should be part of long-term cancer care.WebMD News from HealthDaySOURCES: Negareh Mousavi, M.D., M.H.Sc., division of cardiology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Canada; Anthony D'Amico, M.D., Ph.D., professor of radiation oncology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and chief of genitourinary radiation oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Dennis Kraus, M.D.
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