Effect of seven-day atorvastatin pretreatment on the incidence of periprocedural myocardial infarction following percutaneous coronary intervention in patients receiving long-term statin therapy. A randomized study.

BACKGROUND

The aim of this randomized study was to investigate the effect of seven-day high-dose atorvastatin therapy on the incidence of peri-procedural myocardial infarction (PMI) in patients receiving long-term statin therapy.

METHODS

The patients with stable angina receiving statin therapy and referred for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were randomized (ratio 1:1) to a 7-day pre-treatment with atorvastatin of 80 mg daily and subsequent PCI (Atorvastatin group), or immediate PCI (Control group). The incidence of PMI was based on serum concentration of creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB) mass and troponin I (TnI), which were measured prior to and between 16 and 24h post PCI. The values were considered as positive if they were elevated ≥ 3 times the upper limit normal.

RESULTS

We randomized 202 patients (male 67%, 65.5 ± 9.2 years; 100 vs. 102 pts.). There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics among the randomized groups. The incidence of PMI, based on post-interventional release of TnI and/or CK-MB mass was 15% in the Atorvastatin group vs. 14% in the Control group (p=0.80). One patient (3%) in Atorvastatin group suffered from MI between randomization and PCI.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that 7-day pre-PCI therapy with high-dose atorvastatin did not reduce the occurrence of PMI in patients receiving chronic statin therapy.