Study on atorvastatin affecting the carotid atherosclerotic plaques in elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction

Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of atorvastatin on carotid atherosclerotic plaque in elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction.Methods Ninety elderly patients with acute cerebral infarction combined with carotid atherosclerotic plaque were selected,and they were randomly divided into two groups.Forty-five patients in control group were treated with the conventional treatment of acute cerebral infarction,including some basic drugs,such as aspirin,nimodipine,ligustrazine,etc,and at the same time,the patients were given antihypertensive and hypoglycemic therapy.Forty-five patients in the observation group were treated with atorvastatin on the basis of the treatment in control group,orally given every night,and the treatment lasted for 6 months.IMT was measured before and after treatment,and the plaque area were calculated.Blood lipid and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were detected,each index was compared between the two groups.Results The level of blood lipid was not significantly differente between the two groups before treatment.After treatment,in observation group,the levels of TC,TG,LDL-C were obviously lower than those in control group(P ＜ 0.05),but the level of HDL-C was obviously higher than that in control group (P ＜ 0.05).The serum level of CRP had no significant difference before treatment between the two groups,but after treatment,the serum level of CRP in observation group was obviously lower than that in control group and before treatment(P ＜ 0.05).The IMT and plaque area had no significant difference before treatment between the two groups,but after treatment,the IMT and plaque area in observation group were obviously lower than those in control group and before treatment (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Atorvastatin in the treatment of acute cerebral infarction patients combined with carotid atherosclerotic plaque has obvious anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering effects,and can alleviate,stablize or even reverse the carotid atherosclerotic plaques,so it can play an important role in the prevention and treatment of acute cerebral infarction. Key words: Atorvastatin;  Carotid atherosclerotic plaque;  Cerebral infarction