Effect of statin pretreatment on myocardial perfusion in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Effect of High-Dose Statin Pretreatment for Myocardial Perfusion in Patients Receiving Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI): A Meta-Analysis of 15 Randomized Studies

Background

For coronary artery disease, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the preferred treatment. Reperfusion injury is a common and serious complication of PCI. Studies showed that early statin therapy has a favorable prognostic impact for patients undergoing PCI. However, the effects of statins on improving post-PCI myocardial perfusion are still unclear. In this study we evaluated the potential effect of high-dose statin pretreatment on postprocedure myocardial perfusion and MACE rate in patients receiving PCI.

Material/Methods

We searched randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effect of high-dose statin pretreatment on post-PCI TIMI flow grade and MACE in patients undergoing PCI from the databases of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. All data were pooled for analysis and were stratified by type of statin, clinical presentation, and current statin therapy status in subgroup.

Results

Fifteen RCTs with 4240 individuals were selected. The pooled analysis showed that high-dose statin pretreatment before PCI significantly improved the final TIMI flow grade compared with the control group (OR=0.61, 95% CI: 0.46 to 0.80, p=0.0005), and showed reduced incidence of MACE (OR=0.53, 95%CI: 0.39 to 0.71, p<0.0001). In subgroup analysis, the beneficial effect of high-dose statin was significant in statin-naive treatment patients, ACS patients, and patients on atorvastatin therapy, but no difference occurred in rosuvastatin, previous statin therapy, and stable angina patients.

Conclusions

High-dose statin pretreatment has an important effect on postprocedure myocardial perfusion by improving the TIMI flow in patients undergoing PCI, and high-dose statin preloading also reduces the incidence of MACE.

Consensus Document of the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO), Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC), Italian Association of Interventional Cardiology (SICI-GISE) and Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery (SICCH): clinical approach to pharmacologic pre-treatment for patients undergoing myocardial revascularization procedures

The wide availability of effective drugs in reducing cardiovascular events together with the use of myocardial revascularization has greatly improved the prognosis of patients with coronary artery disease. The combination of antithrombotic drugs to be administered before the knowledge of the coronary anatomy and before the consequent therapeutic strategies, can allow to anticipate optimal treatment, but can also expose the patients at risk of bleeding that, especially in acute coronary syndromes, can significantly weigh on their prognosis, even more than the expected theoretical benefit. In non ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes patients in particular, we propose a 'selective pre-treatment' with P2Y12 inhibitors, based on the ischaemic risk, on the bleeding risk and on the time scheduled for the execution of coronary angiography. Much of the problems concerning this issue would be resolved by an early access to coronary angiography, particularly for patients at higher ischaemic and bleeding risk.

A meta-analytic review of prevalence for Brugada ECG patterns and the risk for death

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of Brugada ECG pattern (BrEP) is different in different regions, and its mean prevalence over the world is unknown. The risk of people with BrEP for death remains unknown. We performed a meta-analysis to determine the prevalence of BrEP and risk ratio (RR) for death.

METHODS

Relevant studies published between July 1, 2000 and August 20, 2016, which contain prevalence and RR for all-cause death and cardiac death, were included. The prevalence and RR are analyzed using meta-analysis.

RESULTS

We finally retrieved 24 studies of the prevalence for BrEP and 5 studies of the RR for all-cause death and cardiac death. The worldwide mean prevalence of BrEP is 0.4%, with highest in Asia (0.9%) and lowest in North America (0.2%). Additionally, the mean prevalence in male is 0.9%, whereas it is 0.1% in female. The RR of BrEP for all-cause death is 0.78 (95% confidence interval 0.45-1.37), and for cardiac death it is 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.23-3.66).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of BrEP is about 0.4% around the world with different prevalence in region and sex. Our study shows that BrEP may not be taken as a predictor of all-cause death and cardiac death.

Effect of statins on coronary blood flow after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Aims

Statins have favourable effects on the vascular system. However, few data are available regarding the effect of these drugs on patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We sought to determine the impact of prior statin use on coronary blood flow after PCI in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) by using the corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) frame count (CTFC).

Methods

A total of 80 consecutive eligible patients (mean age: 60 ± 7 years, 65 % male) with the diagnosis of stable CAD who were hospitalised for elective PCI were retrospectively enrolled in our study. The study population was divided into two groups according to statin use at least 6 months before PCI. Group 1 comprised of 51 patients (67 % male; mean age: 58 ± 4 years) taking statins and group 2 comprised of 29 patients (62 % male; mean age: 60 ± 3 years) not taking statins. PCI was applied to de novo type A lesions. CTFC was calculated for the treated vessels at baseline and after PCI.

Results

The two groups had similar characteristics in terms of age, sex, concomitant medications, lesion characteristics, pre-procedural CTFC, lipid parameters, and risk factors for CAD. Post-PCI CTFC (16 ± 3 vs. 22 ± 5, p = 0.01) and hs-CRP (2.1 ± 0.7 mg/l vs. 6.1 ± 2 mg/l, p = 0.01) in patients receiving statins before PCI were significantly lower than in patients without statin therapy. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that statin pre-treatment (OR 2.5, 95 % CI 1.2 to 3.8, p < 0.001) and hs-CRP level (OR 1.8, 95 % CI 1.2 to 2.4, p = 0.001) were independent predictors of post-PCI CTFC.

Conclusions

In patients with stable CAD undergoing PCI, receipt of long-term statin therapy was associated with improvement in epicardial perfusion after PCI.

Statins and myocardial infarction: Type, dose, and administration time: Does it matter?

Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) constitute a vulnerable group that demands the careful assessment and application of all the up-to-date clinical and experimental knowledge, with final aim, the improvement of their prognosis. Statins are an indispensable part of the primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD), not only due to their strong hypolipidemic effect, but also due to their numerous pleiotropic properties that play an important role in the treatment of CAD, especially when the more vulnerable group of STEMI patients is addressed. Nevertheless, there are still issues that require further discussion and clarification, such as the type of statin, the dose of the regimen, the administration time, and the treatment duration.