David Brill
Topping up a patient’s statin levels before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) could improve outcomes in long-term statin users, a new study suggests.
The ARMYDA*-RECAPTURE trial found that “reloading” with high-dose atorvastatin before PCI reduced the relative risk of major adverse cardiac events by 48 percent at 30-day follow-up.
Treating seventeen patients with this strategy would prevent one such adverse event, the investigators reported.
The study, which involved 352 chronic statin users, extends the findings of the earlier ARMYDA trial which demonstrated the benefits of a statin loading dose in statin-naïve patients undergoing PCI.
“These findings may support a strategy of routine reload with high-dose atorvastatin early before intervention, even in the background of chronic therapy,” said lead investigator Dr. Germanio Di Sciascio, of the University of Rome, Italy.
“If confirmed by future studies, the results of ARMYDA-RECAPTURE may influence practice patterns, particularly for the acute care of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes [ACS].”
The researchers randomized 175 patients to placebo and 177 to atorvastatin reloading, which comprised an 80mg dose 12 hours before angiography, followed by a further 40mg dose 2 hours before.
Just 3.4 percent of statin-treated patients reached the primary endpoint – a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and target vessel revascularization – as compared to 9.1 percent of those in the placebo group (P=0.045).
This effect was driven largely by patients who presented with ACS, rather than those presenting with stable angina. In a separate analysis of ACS patients alone, the relative risk reduction with atorvastatin was 87 percent and the number needed to treat was 9.
Atorvastatin reloading also significantly reduced the proportion of patients with elevation of creatine kinase-MB and troponin-I following PCI, and non-significantly reduced the proportion with elevated C-reactive protein. These findings suggest that a rapid LDL-independent effect may underlie the cardioprotective phenomenon, said Di Sciascio.
Dr. Robert Harrington, director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, US, said that ARMYDA-RECAPTURE adds to the literature supporting early, intensive statin therapy both before and after ACS.
“The trial was very carefully done and it adds to the totality of the data. It is, however, small, and it does have borderline P values with very broad confidence intervals, suggesting a high degree of uncertainty as to the true estimate of effect.
“The limitations of the trial, I believe, warrant replication or validation before recommending widespread adoption of statin reloading,” he said. “Efforts to reduce periprocedural MI should absolutely explore options other than anti-thrombotic therapy, and inflammation certainly is a reasonable target.”
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*Atorvastatin for Reduction of Myocardial Damage during Angioplasty
The ARMYDA*-RECAPTURE trial found that “reloading” with high-dose atorvastatin before PCI reduced the relative risk of major adverse cardiac events by 48 percent at 30-day follow-up.
Treating seventeen patients with this strategy would prevent one such adverse event, the investigators reported.
The study, which involved 352 chronic statin users, extends the findings of the earlier ARMYDA trial which demonstrated the benefits of a statin loading dose in statin-naïve patients undergoing PCI.
“These findings may support a strategy of routine reload with high-dose atorvastatin early before intervention, even in the background of chronic therapy,” said lead investigator Dr. Germanio Di Sciascio, of the University of Rome, Italy.
“If confirmed by future studies, the results of ARMYDA-RECAPTURE may influence practice patterns, particularly for the acute care of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes [ACS].”
The researchers randomized 175 patients to placebo and 177 to atorvastatin reloading, which comprised an 80mg dose 12 hours before angiography, followed by a further 40mg dose 2 hours before.
Just 3.4 percent of statin-treated patients reached the primary endpoint – a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction and target vessel revascularization – as compared to 9.1 percent of those in the placebo group (P=0.045).
This effect was driven largely by patients who presented with ACS, rather than those presenting with stable angina. In a separate analysis of ACS patients alone, the relative risk reduction with atorvastatin was 87 percent and the number needed to treat was 9.
Atorvastatin reloading also significantly reduced the proportion of patients with elevation of creatine kinase-MB and troponin-I following PCI, and non-significantly reduced the proportion with elevated C-reactive protein. These findings suggest that a rapid LDL-independent effect may underlie the cardioprotective phenomenon, said Di Sciascio.
Dr. Robert Harrington, director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, US, said that ARMYDA-RECAPTURE adds to the literature supporting early, intensive statin therapy both before and after ACS.
“The trial was very carefully done and it adds to the totality of the data. It is, however, small, and it does have borderline P values with very broad confidence intervals, suggesting a high degree of uncertainty as to the true estimate of effect.
“The limitations of the trial, I believe, warrant replication or validation before recommending widespread adoption of statin reloading,” he said. “Efforts to reduce periprocedural MI should absolutely explore options other than anti-thrombotic therapy, and inflammation certainly is a reasonable target.”
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*Atorvastatin for Reduction of Myocardial Damage during Angioplasty
