Statin therapy may prevent restenosis after successful coronary intervention, independent of lipid-lowering effect and CRP level.

BACKGROUND: As statins have the anti-atherosclerotic pleiotropic effects, we retrospectively examined the effects of statins on restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: We reviewed consecutive 341 patients who underwent successful PCI and follow-up angiography six months after the procedure between January 2002 and December 2004. Statins were initiated in 207 patients (statin group), but not in the other 134 (control group). We compared the angiographic findings, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and C-reactive protein (CRP) between the two groups. RESULTS: LDL-C level in statin group was significantly higher than those in control group at baseline (116.0 +/- 35.8 vs 103.1 +/- 24.5 mg/dL, p < 0.01); however, the values were inverted between the two groups at follow-up (99.9 +/- 29.5 vs 107.6 +/- 26.0 mg/dL, p = 0.015). CRP levels were comparable between these two groups. Statin group showed significantly lower angiographic restenosis (defined as > or = 50% stenosis at the target site) rate (35.3 vs 46.3%, p = 0.042) and target lesion revascularization (TLR) rate (14.5 vs 23.9%, p = 0.018) than control group. Multivariate analysis indicated that the prescription of statin, but not LDL-C level at follow-up and % reduction of LDL-C during the follow-up period, predict the restenosis prevention. CONCLUSIONS: Statins can decrease restenosis and TLR rate after PCI, independent of lipid-lowering effect and CRP level in this study.