ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the interaction of atorvastatin or pravastatin with clopidogrel on platelet activation and aggregation function in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing coronary stenting.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Between April and December 2006, a total of 150 hospitalized ACS patients undergoing coronary stenting were randomized to receive atorvastatin (n = 50), pravastatin (n = 50) or no statin (n = 50) one day post procedure. All patients received standard antiplatelet treatment including aspirin 300 mg/d and loading dose 300 mg of clopidogrel followed by maintenance dose 75 mg/d. The expressions of CD62P and PAC-1 and the maximal platelet aggregation rate (MPAR) induced by 20 micromol/L ADP were measured at day 1 before statin therapy (baseline) and day 3 after procedure.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Baseline clinical characteristics and levels of CD62P, PAC-1 and MPAR at the baseline were comparable among three groups. After 3-day statin treatment, the changes of CD62P [(4.69 +/- 16.78)% vs. (1.35 +/- 10.86)% vs. (2.97 +/- 10.21)%], PAC-1 [(12.78 +/- 22.07)% vs. (8.01 +/- 21.23)% vs. (10.65 +/- 21.39)%] and MPAR [(5.44 +/- 18.68)% vs. (7.15 +/- 19.59)% vs. (3.76 +/- 23.42)%] among three groups were not significantly different (all P > 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that DeltaCD62P [(7.50 +/- 19.35)% vs. (3.24 +/- 11.18)% vs. (2.53 +/- 8.87)%], DeltaPAC-1 [(13.40 +/- 24.62)% vs. (11.28 +/- 19.90)% vs. (10.11 +/- 21.29)%] and DeltaMPAR [(7.56 +/- 19.11)% vs. (7.87 +/- 23.60)% vs. (6.75 +/- 23.30)%] in ACS patients were also similar among three groups (all P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Neither atorvastatin nor pravastatin attenuates the antiplatelet function of clopidogrel in ACS patients early post coronary stenting.</p>