Dose-Dependent Effect of Statin Pretreatment on Preventing the Periprocedural Complications of Carotid Artery Stenting

Background and Purpose— We investigated whether statin pretreatment can dose dependently reduce periprocedural complications in patients undergoing carotid artery stenting because of symptomatic carotid artery stenosis. Methods— We enrolled a consecutive series of 397 symptomatic carotid artery stenosis (≥50% stenosis on conventional angiography) treated with carotid artery stenting at 2 tertiary university hospitals over a decade. Definition of periprocedural complications included any stroke, myocardial infarction, and death within 1 month after or during the procedure. Statin pretreatment was divided into 3 categories according to the atorvastatin equivalent dose: none (n=158; 39.8%), standard dose (<40 mg of atorvastatin, n=155; 39.0%), and high dose (≥40 mg; n=84; 21.2%). A multivariable logistic regression analysis with the generalized estimating equation method was used to investigate independent factors in periprocedural complications. Results— The patients’ mean age was 68.7 years (81.6% men). The periprocedural complication rates across the 3 categories of statin use were 12.0%, 4.5%, and 1.2%. After adjustment, a change in the atorvastatin dose category was associated with reduction in the odds of periprocedural complications for each change in dose category (standard-dose statin: odds ratio, 0.24; 95% confidence interval, 0.07−0.81; high-dose statin: odds ratio, 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 0.01−0.96;P for trend=0.01). Administration of antiplatelet drugs was also an independent factor in periprocedural complications (OR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.05−0.69).Conclusions— This study shows that statin pretreatment may reduce the incidence of periprocedural complications dose dependently in patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenting.