Statins may help protect the liver of hepatitis B patients
While a prescription to buy Canadian Lipitor can help cardiovascular patients lower their cholesterol levels, new research from Taiwan suggests that this drug and other statins may also protect hepatitis B patients from liver cancer.
While a prescription to buy Canadian Lipitor can help cardiovascular patients lower their cholesterol levels, new research from Taiwan suggests that this drug and other statins may also protect hepatitis B patients from liver cancer.
The team of scientists who conducted this study reviewed the medical data of more than 33,000 people who were infected with the hepatitis B virus. Between 1997 and 2008, more than 1,000 people developed liver cancer.
Data analysis revealed that those who took statins for cholesterol were less likely to have this malignancy. This association was even stronger for patients who were on these medications for a longer period of time, as published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
In the past, similar observations were made for other types of carcinomas, such as breast cancer, as reported by HealthDay.
"Statins have potential protective effects against cancers [and] carriers of hepatitis B virus infection have a substantial risk of [liver] carcinoma," said researcher Pau-Chung Chen, as quoted by the news source.
Further studies are needed to verify these effects, independent experts said.
There were more than 3,400 new cases of hepatitis B infection in the U.S. in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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