Efficacy of simvastatin in reducing postoperative adhesions after thyroidectomy: an experimental study

• Published in: Acta chirurgica belgica Vol. 117; no. 2; p. 77
• Main Authors: Makay, Ozer, Isik, Dilek, Erol, Varlik, Yenisey, Cigdem, Kose, Timur, Icoz, Gokhan, Ertan, Yesim, Ozutemiz, Omer, Akyildiz, Mahir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 04.03.2017
• Subjects: Animals; Biopsy, Needle; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Injections, Intralesional; Male; Postoperative Complications - drug therapy; Postoperative Complications - physiopathology; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reference Values; Simvastatin - administration & dosage; Statistics, Nonparametric; Thyroidectomy - adverse effects; Thyroidectomy - methods; Tissue Adhesions - drug therapy; Tissue Adhesions - pathology; Treatment Outcome; Head and neck; thyroid surgery; endocrine
• ISSN: 0001-5458
• DOI: 10.1080/00015458.2016.1242292

We aimed to investigate whether simvastatin had any impact on the prevention of adhesion formation after thyroidectomy in a rat model. This study was performed in 66 Wistar albino rats randomized into three experimental groups. A right hemithyroidectomy was carried out in all the rats. Simvastatin was administered locally at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg and 0.8 mg/kg. Control rats received a saline solution only. Changes during the 1st week, 1st month and 3rd month were evaluated. Efficacy of the treatment was assessed by using a scoring system. The severity of adhesions in low-dose simvastatin group was significantly less than the control and high-dose groups during the 1st and 3rd month (p < .05). In addition, adhesions were less in the high dose group during the 3rd month, when compared to the control group (p < .05). Moreover, fibrosis and fibroblast scores, which represent adhesions, were significantly lower in low-dose and high-dose groups at 3rd month, compared to controls (p < .05). We investigated the influence of simvastatin application on post-thyroidectomy adhesion formation in rats. Whether adhesions, causing technical difficulties during neck redo surgery, can be reduced by the use of simvastatin in human, needs to be studied.