Statin and Post-interventional Coronary Microcirculation Dysfunction

Development of peri-procedural myocardial infarction following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is not uncommon and affects long-term prognosis. Clinical studies have shown that pre-treatment with atorvastatin reduced peri-procedural myocardial infarction in patients with stable angina. The mechanism of peri-procedural myocardial infarction is presumed to be microvascular embolization. However the direct causal relationship between statin pretreatment and prevention of microvascular dysfunction has not been investigated yet.

In this study, we will recruit symptomatic angina patients who have clinical indication of coronary angiography. At the time of enrollment, patients will be randomly assigned to pre-treatment group (atorvastatin 80 mg/d for 4 days) or control group. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) will be perfomed based on the result of diagnostic coronary angiography by decision of attending physician. When PCI is performed, fractional flow reserve (FFR) and index of microvascular resistance (IMR) will be measured before and after the procedure. Periprocedural myocardial infarction will be defined by post-PCI cardiac biomarker. All patients will be followed for adverse cardiac events for 1 year.