Effect of loading dose atorvastatin on patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing early percutaneous coronary intervention

Objective To investigate the effect of loading dose atorvastatin on myocardial injury and inflammatory reaction in patients with non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (ACS)undergoing early percutaneous coronary intervention.Methods A total of 81 patients with non-ST segment elevation ACS were randomized to pretreatment with atorvastatin (80 mg 12 h before PCI,with a further 40 mg preprocedure dose (n=41) or placebo group(n=40),CK-MB,cTnI,hs-CRP,CK and ALT/AST of the blood from elbow vein were monitored before and 8 and 24 hours after the procedure of PCI.The main end point of the trial was a 30-day incidence of major adverse cardiac events.Results The markers of two groups were elevated after PCI,however,the ascended values of CK-MB,cTnI,hs-CRP in the atorvastatin treatment group were significantly lower than those of the placebo group(P0.01).the major adverse cardiacb events occurred in 2.4% of patients in the atorvastatin group and 22.5% of those in the placebo group (P=0.0161).This difference was mostly driven by reduction of myocardial infarction incidence (2.4% vs 20.0%)(P=0.0307).Conclusion even short-term pretreatment with high dose atorvastatin may improve outcomes in patients with non-ST segment ACS undergoing early invasive strategy.