Usefulness of Statin Pretreatment to Prevent Contrast-Induced Nephropathy and to Improve Long-Term Outcome in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing angiography. This study investigated whether statins decrease incidence of CIN in the setting of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and evaluated the influence of such potential benefit on long-term outcome. Four-hundred thirty-four patients undergoing PCI were prospectively enrolled and followed up to 4 years. Patients were stratified according to preprocedural statin therapy (260 statin treated, 174 statin naive). CIN was defined as a postprocedural increase in serum creatinine of ≥0.5 mg/dl or >25% from baseline. Follow-up assessment included 4-year occurrence of major adverse cardiac events. Statin-treated patients had a significantly lower incidence of CIN (3% vs 27%, p <0.0001; 90% risk decrease) and had better postprocedural creatinine clearance (80 ± 20 vs 65 ± 16 ml/min, p <0.0001). Benefit of statin before treatment was observed in all subgroups, except in patients with a pre-existing creatinine clearance <40 ml/min. During follow-up, CIN was a predictor of poorer outcome; 4-year survival free of major adverse cardiac events was highest in statin-treated patients without CIN (95%, p ≤0.015) and lowest in statin-naive patients with CIN (53%, p ≤0.018). In conclusion, patients receiving statins before PCI have a significant decrease of CIN; this early protective effect translates into better long-term event-free survival. These results may lend further support to utilization of statins as adjuvant pharmacologic therapy before PCI.