Evaluation of skeletal muscle during calf exercise by 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients on statin medications

✍ Scribed by Jim S. Wu; Catherine Buettner; Howard Smithline; Long H. Ngo; Robert L. Greenman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 339 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-639X
• DOI: 10.1002/mus.21847

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Muscle pain is a common side effect of statin medications, but the cause is poorly understood. We characterized phosphocreatine (PCr) exercise recovery kinetics in 10 patients with hypercholesterolemia before and after a 4‐week regimen of statin therapy using 31‐phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (^31^P‐MRS). ^31^P spectra were obtained before, during, and after exercise on a calf flexion pedal ergometer. Creatine kinase (CK) serum levels were drawn before and after statin therapy. The mean metabolic recovery time constant in subjects increased from 28.1 s (SE = 6.5 s) to 55.4 s (SE = 7.4 s) after statin therapy. The unweighted mean of the pre/post‐recovery time difference was −27.3 s (SE = 12.4 s; P = 0.02). Pre‐ and post‐therapy CK levels were not significantly different (P = 0.50). Metabolic recovery time in the calf is prolonged in patients after statin use. This suggests that statins impair mitochondrial oxidative function, and ^31^P MRS is a potential study model for statin‐associated myopathy. Muscle Nerve, 2011