Rationale and design of assessment of lipophilic vs. hydrophilic statin therapy in acute myocardial infarction (the ALPS-AMI) study.
BACKGROUND
Statins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Although all statins are equally effective in secondary prevention, there might be certain differences in the effects of lipophilic and hydrophilic statins. Therefore, our aim is to compare the effectiveness of lipophilic atorvastatin and hydrophilic pravastatin in secondary prevention after AMI.


RESULTS
This study is a prospective, randomized, open-label, multicenter study of 500 patients with AMI. Patients that have undergone successful percutaneous coronary intervention will be randomly allocated to receive either atorvastatin or pravastatin with the treatment goal of lowering their low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level below 100 mg/dl for 2 years. The primary endpoint will be death due to any cause, nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke, unstable angina, or congestive heart failure requiring hospital admission, or any type of coronary revascularization.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first multicenter trial to compare the effects and safety of lipophilic and hydrophilic statin therapy in Japanese patients with AMI. It addresses an important issue and could influence the use of statin treatment in the secondary prevention of coronary artery disease.
Kashima
Yuichiro
Y
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
Izawa
Atsushi
A
Aizawa
Kazunori
K
Koshikawa
Megumi
M
Kasai
Hiroki
H
Tomita
Takeshi
T
Kumazaki
Setsuo
S
Tsutsui
Hiroshi
H
Koyama
Jun
J
Ikeda
Uichi
U
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069059:Atorvastatin; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000517:prevention & control; D006538:Heptanoic Acids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017035:Pravastatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012107:Research Design
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D006538:Heptanoic Acids; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D011758:Pyrroles; D000069059:Atorvastatin; D017035:Pravastatin