Intensive atorvastatin therapy decreases plasma hs-CRP and increases plasma adiponectin in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention

AIM:To investigate the effect of intensive atorvastatin therapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: Seventy patients undergoing elective PCI were randomly divided into intensive atorvastatin therapy group (35 patients) and moderate atorvastatin therapy group (35 patients). The patients in the intensive group were given atorvastatin (80 mg/day) for 2 days before PCI followed by 40 mg/day for 30 days after PCI. Patients in the moderate group were given atorvastatin (20 mg/day) for 2 days before PCI followed by 20 mg/day for 30 days after PCI. The 30-day incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and the incidence of slow flow/no reflow were recorded. Plasma levels of hs-CRP, HDL-C, LDL-C, adiponectin (APN) and myocardial injury markers (CK-MB and cTnI) were tested in the two groups before as well as 1 and 3 months after PCI. RESULTS: No occurrence of MACE and no severe adverse effects were found in the two groups. Plasma APN significantly increased and hs-CRP decreased in the intensive group compared with those in the moderate group ［APN: (8±4) mg/L vs. (6±3) mg/L; hs-CRP: (3.2±2.1) mg/L vs. (4.5±2.3) mg/L, P<0.05］ after 1 month. The incidence of slow flow/no reflow was 3/35 in intensive group and 5/35 in moderate group with no statistical significance between groups. CONCLUSION: Intensive atorvastatin therapy significantly decreases plasma hs-CRP and increases plasma adiponectin in patients undergoing elective PCI.