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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (19004)	8/28/2010 12:10:32 PM
From: J_F_Shepard	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42652

" Randomized Controlled Trial Demonstrates that Aggressive Lipid Lowering Therapy with "Statin" Medication Can Actually Shrink Coronary Artery Stenoses (Blockages) By Robert A. Iaffaldano, M.D., F.A.C.C. "Have at it--statement of premise and supporting scientific data, if you please..." Interventional Cardiologist, Heart Care Centers of Illinois Medical Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, St. Francis, Blue Island Hospital Every day doctors are presented with the dilemma, “Which drug should I prescribe for my patient?” Is there any advantage to one over the other? Although every individual physician may have a certain preference, HCCI believes that the decision should be based on sound clinical evidence. That is why we feel it is so important to participate in research trials that are directed to answer clinically relevant questions. Robert A. Iaffaldano, M.D.Recently, the results of a study in which we took part were released at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions. Articles also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and many other national and international newspapers. The name of the trial was REVERSAL. This study represented the first major comparison of two statin drugs to lower LDL levels (the bad cholesterol) and the first major comparison of an intensive versus moderate lipid lowering regimen. It also had a unique design because it didn’t simply look at improving lipid levels, but evaluated whether therapy could halt progression of atherosclerosis measured precisely by the use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). IVUS is a videorecording of the interior wall of the coronary artery that permits the measurement of vessel wall area thickening so that the amount of atherosclerosis (plaque volume) can be calculated. The REVERSAL Trial randomized 654 patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, a 20% or greater stenosis (blockage) by angiography, and LDL levels between 125 – 210 mg/dl to either pravastatin 40 mg (moderate lipid lowering therapy) or atorvastatin 80 mg (intensive lipid lowering therapy). IVUS of a single target artery was performed before randomization and after 18 months of treatment. As expected, the atorvastatin regimen lowered LDL levels significantly more than the pravastatin regimen, with an approximate 46% reduction in the atorvastatin group versus 25% reduction in the pravastatin group. The primary measurement of the study, however, was percent change in atheroma volume which showed a 2.7% increase in the pravastatin group and a 0.4% REDUCTION in the atorvastatin group. Absence of progression was evident in the atorvastatin arm for men and women, diabetics and non-diabetics, and older and younger patients. heartcc.com