The Effect of Intensive Statin Therapy on Symptomatic Intracranial Arterial Stenosis

Background: The aim of this study was to observe the effect of intensive statin therapy on symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis. Methods: overall, 120 patients with symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis were admitted to the Xiangyang No. 1 People's Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Xiangyang, China from January 2010 to May 2013. They were randomly divided into three groups and were given different doses of atorvastatin orally for 1 year or more, and followed up for 12 months. The three groups were assessed for clinical end-point event rates and changes in cerebral blood flow value before and after treatment to assess the effectiveness of intensive statin therapy. Results: The incidence rates of end-point cerebrovascular events in the low-dose group (10 mg/d), the generaldose group (20 mg/d) and the intensive treatment group (40 mg/d) were 26.3%, 13.5% and 5.4% respectively during the 12-month follow-up after treatment. There was a significant difference between the low dose group and the intensive treatment group (P<0.05). The relative cerebral blood flow and relative cerebral blood volume of the three groups were significantly higher than those before treatment (P<0.05), and the relative time to peak for the intensive treatment group was shorter than that before treatment (P<0.001). Conclusion: Atorvastatin at 40 mg/d has a significant advantage compared with atorvastatin at 20 mg/d and 10 mg/d in reducing cerebrovascular events and improving cerebral blood flow.