Statin enhancement of collateralization in acute stroke.

Collateral circulation influences cerebral infarction occurrence and size. Statins may improve ischemic stroke outcomes. We evaluated the relationship between prestroke statin use and pretreatment angiographic collateral grade among acute ischemic stroke patients presenting with occlusion of a major cerebral artery. After adjusting for covariates, the statin-treated group had significantly higher collateral scores than non-statin users, suggesting an association between statin use and better collateralization during acute stroke.