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Recently, statins have been linked to a necrotizing myopathy that appears unrelated to any direct statin toxicity and that responds to immunosuppressive therapy. These authors retrospectively reviewed cases of necrotizing myopathy identified in statin users over an 8-year period. Case patients met the following criteria: persistent proximal weakness occurring during or after treatment with statins, elevated serum creatine kinase (CK) levels despite statin discontinuation, muscle biopsy showing necrotizing myopathy without significant inflammation, and improvement (either decreased CK or improved muscle strength) with immunosuppressive therapy.
The authors identified 25 patients who met these criteria. The average duration of statin treatment…