• Achim Leo Burger, Nora Beran, Edita Pogran, Christoph C Kaufmann, David Zweiker, Marie Muthspiel, Benjamin Panzer, Bernhard Jäger, Miklos Rohla, and Kurt Huber.
• 3rd Medical Department with Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Clinic Ottakring (Wilhelminenhospital), Vienna, Austria. achim.leo.burger@gmail.com.
• Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 2023 Dec 1; 135 (23-24): 674679674-679.

BackgroundCurrent guidelines recommend a stepwise initiation of lipid-lowering therapy after percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in treatment-naïve individuals. Patients might benefit from an earlier and stronger low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction through upfront combination therapies.MethodsThis retrospective study included patients without previous lipid-lowering therapy undergoing acute or elective PCI with stent implantation between January 2016 and December 2019. Patients initiated on statin monotherapy vs. a combination of statin and ezetimibe were compared. The primary endpoint was an LDL‑C reduction into the target range of < 55 mg/dL at 3 months. The secondary endpoint was the occurrence of major cardiovascular events (MACE).ResultsA total of 204 lipid-lowering therapy naive patients were included, of whom 157 (77.0%) received statin monotherapy and 47 (23.0%) combination therapy. Median LDL‑C levels were higher in patients initiated on combination therapy vs. monotherapy (140 mg/dL, interquartile range, IQR, 123-167 mg/dL vs. 102 mg/dL, IQR 80-136 mg/dL, p < 0.001). The LDL‑C reduction was greater in patients treated with combination therapy vs. statin monotherapy (-73 mg/dL, -52.1% vs. -43 mg/dL, -42.2%, p < 0.001). While the primary endpoint was similar between groups (44.7% vs. 36.1%, p = 0.275), combination therapy significantly increased the proportion of patients achieving the treatment target in the presence of an admission LDL-C > 120 mg/dL (46.2% vs. 26.2%, p = 0.031). The rates of MACE were similar between the two groups (10.6% vs. 17.8%, p = 0.237) at a median follow-up of 2.2 years, IQR 1.46-3.10 years.ConclusionImmediate initiation of high-intensity statin and ezetimibe treatment might be considered as the default strategy in treatment-naïve patients with high admission LDL‑C undergoing PCI.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.

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