Loading doses of statins for prevention of pci-related myocardial injyry in patients with stable coronary heart disease: a literature review

Many authors showed that the levels of cardiac biomarkers suggestive of death of cardiomyocytes and necrosis of the myocardium increased after percutaneous coronary intervention. Recent studies demonstrated the efficacy of statins for the prevention of these events, due to the presence of pleiotropic properties. The review presents the main studies regarding the use of loading doses of potent statins: atorvastatin (ARMIDA, ARMIDA-RECAPTURE, NAPLES II et al.) and rosuvastatin (ROMA, ROMA II et al.) for the prevention of periprocedural myocardial damage in patients with stable coronary artery disease. These data support the need for more frequent administration of high doses of statins for all patients referred for elective PCI for stable angina, including naive statins, as well as the need for reloading statins before PCI in patients already receiving them long-term.