Statins for the prevention of contrast-induced acute kidney injury

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To highlight the most recently published meta-analyses on the role of statins in the prevention of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) and to formulate recommendations for clinical practice. RECENT FINDINGS: Nine meta-analyses were published on this topic from January 2015 to April 2016. Significant clinical heterogeneity between studies, regarding study population, treatment protocol, concomitant preventive strategies or dosage and duration of statin therapy was observed. In addition, the definition of CI-AKI was not uniform throughout all studies, and a number of other clinically meaningful endpoints, such as length of hospital stay in patients who developed CI-AKI, as well as adverse events, were rarely analyzed. SUMMARY: Despite some promising results, it is premature to adapt the existing guidelines and implement the preprocedural use of statins in daily clinical practice. At present, low volumes of iso-osmolar or low-osmolar intravascular contrast and adequate intravascular hydration in high-risk patients remain the cornerstone for the prevention of CI-AKI. There is a need for additional well designed randomized controlled trials to clarify these issues and assess the risk vs benefit of statin use for the purpose of CI-AKI prevention