12-month follow-up results of high dose rosuvastatin loading before percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute coronary syndrome

BackgroundStatin pretreatment before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with a reduced incidence of short-term adverse events and periprocedural myocardial infarction (MI). However, the long-term effects of statin pretreatment have not been evaluated.MethodsConsecutive 445 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who underwent PCI were randomly assigned to receive no statin treatment before PCI (control group, n = 220) or to receive 40 mg rosuvastatin loading before PCI (rosuvastatin group, n = 225). The incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), including cardiac death, non-fatal MI, non-fatal stroke, and any ischemia-driven revascularization, was assessed after 12 months.ResultsDuring 11 ± 3 months of follow-up, MACE occurred in 20.5% of patients in the control group and 9.8% of patients in the rosuvastatin group (p = 0.002). The Kaplan–Meier curves showed that the incidence of death and non-fatal MI was significantly greater in the control group than in the rosuvastatin group (hazard ratio, 3.71; p = 0.021). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels were less elevated in the rosuvastatin group than in the control group at 24 h after PCI. Multivariate analysis revealed that rosuvastatin loading was an independent predictor of a reduction in the risk of MACE at 12 months (odds ratio, 0.5; p = 0.006).ConclusionsHigh dose rosuvastatin loading before PCI significantly improved 12-month clinical outcomes in patients with ACS who underwent an early invasive strategy.