The beneficial effect of high loading dose of rosuvastatin before percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Background: Statin therapy prior to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with reduced mortality and periprocedural myocardial injury after PCI. We studied whether single high dose statin loading is beneficial on the outcome of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) underwent PCI. Methods: Consecutive 445 patients with ACS who underwent PCI were randomly assigned to either the group of no statin treatment before PCI (Control group: n = 220, 63 ± 11 years, male 62%) or the group of 40 mg rosuvastatin loading before PCI (Rosuvastatin group: n = 225, 64 ± 10 years, male 60%). Incidence of periprocedural myocardial injury was assessed by analysis of creatinine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and cardiac troponin T before PCI, at 6 h and the next morning after PCI. Result: There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between the two groups. After PCI, incidence of periprocedural myocardial injury was higher in control than in rosuvastatin group (11.4% versus 5.8%, p = 0.035). Mean preprocedural CK-MB and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were similar between the two groups, whereas after PCI, peak values of both markers were elevated significantly higher in control than in rosuvastatin group. Multivariate analysis revealed that no prior use of statin (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.1-4.6; p = 0.029), procedural complication (OR = 3.1; 95% CI = 1.4-6.9; p = 0.007) and multi-vessel disease (OR = 2.6; 95% CI = 1.0-6.6; p = 0.039) were the independent predictors for periprocedural myocardial infarction. Conclusion: Single high dose of rosuvastatin prior to PCI reduces periprocedural myocardial injury in patients with ACS.