A case of statin-induced liver injury with positive rechallenge with a second statin. Is there a class effect?

Statins have proved to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in high-risk population and are generally well tolerated, although adverse events can occur. Up to 3% of patients develop aminotransferases elevation, which usually normalizes with continued treatment and hardly is associated with clinical symptoms. Serious statin-related liver injury is exceedingly rare. Furthermore, literature regarding rechallenge with a second statin is extremely poor. Some authors caution that re-exposure to these drugs is associated with a more serious liver injury but safe switching to a second statin after drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is also reported.

We describe a case of a middle-aged woman who developed hepatocellular liver injury after simvastatin dose escalation; a rechallenge with low dose rosuvastatin caused rapid recurrence of DILI.

In our opinion, clinicians should be very cautious upon rechallenge and closely follow-up patients who experienced statin-induced liver injury when trying re-exposure to another statin.