Published Online
on August 23, 2004

A more recent version of this article appeared on August 31, 2004

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Submitted on February 10, 2004
Revised on May 6, 2004
Accepted on May 18, 2004

Early Statin Treatment in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome. Demonstration of the Beneficial Effect on Atherosclerotic Lesions by Serial Volumetric Intravascular Ultrasound Analysis During Half a Year After Coronary Event: The ESTABLISH Study

Shinya Okazaki MD^*, Takayuki Yokoyama MD, Katsumi Miyauchi MD, Kazunori Shimada MD, Takeshi Kurata MD, Hitoshi Sato MD, and Hiroyuki Daida MD

From the Department of Cardiology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: shinya{at}med.juntendo.ac.jp.

Background--Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that aggressive lipid lowering by statins could prevent recurrent events after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We hypothesized that this efficacy was caused by a significant reduction in plaque volume by aggressive LDL cholesterol (LCL-C) lowering. The present study investigated the effect of early statin treatment on plaque volume of a nonculprit lesion by serial volumetric intravascular ultrasound in patients with ACS.

Methods and Results--Seventy patients with ACS were enrolled. All patients underwent emergency coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). They were randomized to intensive lipid-lowering therapy (n=35; atorvastatin 20 mg/d) or control (n=35) groups after PCI. Volumetric intravascular ultrasound analyses were performed at baseline and 6-month follow-up for a non-PCI site in 48 patients (atorvastatin, n=24; control, n=24). LDL-C level was significantly decreased by 41.7% in the atorvastatin group compared with the control group, in which LDL-C was increased by 0.7% (P<0.0001). Plaque volume was significantly reduced in the atorvastatin group (13.1±12.8% decrease) compared with the control group (8.7±14.9% increase; P<0.0001). Percent change in plaque volume showed a significant positive correlation with follow-up LDL-C level (R=0.456, P=0.0011) and percent LDL-C reduction (R=0.612, P<0.0001), even in patients with baseline LDL-C <125 mg/dL.

Conclusions--Early aggressive lipid-lowering therapy by atorvastatin for 6 months significantly reduced the plaque volume in patients with ACS. Percent change in plaque volume showed a significant positive correlation with percent LDL-C reduction, even in patients with low baseline LDL-C.

Key words: atherosclerosis • lipids • plaque • statins • coronary disease

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