Effect and safety of intensive statin therapy on mild symptomatic carotid artery stenosis with vulnerable plaques

Liu Yun; Wei Wei; Huang Yuanzhi

doi:10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-4777.2017.09.016

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect and safety of intensive statin therapy on mild symptomatic carotid artery stenosis with vulnerable plaques.Methods A total of 217 patients with mild symptomatic carotid artery stenosis(＜ 50％) and vulnerable plaques were enrolled at Yan'an University Mfiliated Hospital from January 2013 to June 2015;they were randomly divided into observation group(110 cases) and control group(107 caes).The observation group had atorvastatin 40 rag,1 time/d;the control group had atorvastatin 20 mg,1 time/d;the course of treatment was 1 year.The level of blood lipid and the score of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) were analyzed before and after 14 d of treatment.Both groups were followed up for 1 year to observe endpoint events and adverse reactions.Results Levels of serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in observation group were significantly lower than those in control group after 14 d of treatment[(4.3 ± 1.4)mmol/L vs (4.9 ± 1.2) mmol/L,(2.7 ± 1.0) mmol/L vs (3.0 ± 0.9) mmol/L] (P ＜ 0.05).The score of NIHSS showed no significant difference between groups(P =0.641).During 1 year follow-up,there were no significant differences of incidences of primary endpoint events and secondary endpoint events between groups (P =0.328,P =0.067);the incidence of total endpoint events in observation group was significantly lower than that in control group [5.5％ (6/110) vs 14.0％ (15/107),P =0.033].The incidence of adverse reactions had no significant difference between groups(P =0.618).Conclusion Intensive statin therapy can safely and effectively reduce blood lipid level and cardiocerebrovascular events in patients with mild symptomatic carotid artery stenosis and vulnerable plaques.