PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
ED  - Nissen, Steven
TI  - Intensive Statin Therapy May Partially Reverse Plaque Build-Up in Arteries
DP  - 2006 May 01
TA  - MD Conference Express
PG  - 13--13
VI  - 6
IP  - 1
4099  - http://mdc.sagepub.com/content/6/1/13.short
4100  - http://mdc.sagepub.com/content/6/1/13.full
AB  - The ASTEROID study (A Study To Evaluate the Effect of Rosuvastatin on Intravascular Ultrasound-Derived Coronary Atheroma Burden [ASTEROID] Trial) demonstrated, for the first time, that very intensive cholesterol lowering with a statin drug can partially reverse the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries. This finding has never before been observed in a study using statin drugs, the most commonly used cholesterol lowering treatment. Previous research had indicated that intensive statin therapy could prevent the progression of coronary atherosclerosis, or arterial plaque build-up, but not actually reduce disease burden.