Early Use of Cholesterol Drug Boosts Outcomes After Angioplasty

Related Encyclopedia • Alzheimer's Disease • Aneurysms • Angina Pectoris • Angiogram More... Related Healthscout Videos Howard: The Helping Hand for Stroke Survivors Fixing Torn Hearts Medicine's Next Big Thing? Growing Hearts How can a supportive family help? More... Related Animations • Alzheimer's Disease Video Animation • Angioplasty • Coronary Bypass Surgery • Erectile Dysfunction More... Related Drug Information • Accupril • Actonel • Altace • Avapro More... Related News Articles • Health Tip: Cardiac Rehabilitation • White Men With Chest Pains Treated Fastest in ERs • Melt-Away Stent Works Well in Trial • Severe Menopause Symptoms Raise Heart Risks More...

Page:  << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >>

But in this study, half of the patients also received Lipitor in the 12-hour period before their angioplasty.

It seemed to have helped. "Even with this short pretreatment, there is improvement in outcomes," said the study's lead author, Dr. Germano Di Sciascio, director of the department of cardiovascular sciences at the University of Rome.

In fact, just 5 percent of patients who received Lipitor shortly before their angioplasty died, had a nonfatal heart attack, or required another invasive procedure within 30 days of angioplasty, compared to 17 percent of those who only got the statin after the procedure.

Text Continues Below

---

"I was not surprised, because we had done other similar studies that have shown a lot of good effects of atorvastatin (Lipitor)," Di Sciascio said. "The most important thing is that even a short treatment works, and it works in the unstable patients going for (angioplasty). Thus, atorvastatin needs to be part of the armamentarium of the interventional cardiologist," he added.

Di Sciascio stressed that his team's study was relatively small and should be confirmed by a larger trial before any major shift in cardiac care occurs. And he said that "it is possible that other statins would have the same effect, however, until now, the benefit has been demonstrated only with atorvastatin, which has been the subject of our study."

Bonow agreed that the findings could help change hospital practice. "Many heart attacks occur out of the blue, and people aren't aware that they have a problem, so many aren't already on these drugs," he said. "So, we tend to start them in the hospital before they go home. But this study suggests that we should do it even earlier, as soon as they hit the door."

In the second study, a team led by Dr. John R. Crouse III, of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., compared the effectiveness of Crestor (rosuvastatin) in nearly 900 patients. The patients were relatively healthy, with only "modest" elevations in LDL ("bad") cholesterol and a mild amount of plaque in their carotid arteries.

Page:  << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >>