STATT: a titrate-to-goal study of simvastatin in Asian patients with coronary heart disease. Simvastatin Treats Asians to Target.

BACKGROUND: Most published studies on the use of lipid-lowering agents to treat hypercholesterolemia have focused on Western populations, with few data on Asian populations. OBJECTIVE: The Simvastatin Treats Asians to Target (STATT) study used a titrate-to-goal protocol to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of simvastatin 20 to 80 mg/d in the treatment of Asian patients with coronary heart disease. METHODS: This was a multicenter, open-label, uncontrolled, 14-week study in patients with coronary heart disease and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels of 115-180 mg/dL and triglyceride levels of < or = 400 mg/dL. The dose of simvastatin was titrated from 20 to 80 mg/d to achieve the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) LDL-C target of < or = 100 mg/dL. The primary efficacy measure was the percentage of patients achieving the NCEP target. Among secondary measures were the percentage of patients achieving European Society of Cardiology/European Atherosclerosis Society/European Society of Hypertension target LDL-C levels of < or = 115 mg/dL and the percentage change from baseline in lipid parameters. Tolerability was assessed in terms of the overall incidence of adverse experiences and the incidences of the most commonly reported adverse experiences. RESULTS: The intent-to-treat analysis included 133 Asian patients (93 men, 40 women; mean age, 59.5 years), of whom 125 completed 14 weeks of therapy. Their mean blood pressure was 130.2/79.4 mm Hg. Overall, 104 (78.2%) patients treated with simvastatin achieved LDL-C levels < or = 100 mg/dL at week 14, and 125 (94.0%) achieved this target at some point during the study. Similarly, 122 (91.7%) patients achieved an LDL-C level < or = 115 mg/dL at week 14, and 130 (97.7%) achieved this target at some point during the study. Treatment with simvastatin had favorable effects on the lipid profile, producing significant percentage changes from baseline in all parameters (P < 0.001). Simvastatin was well tolerated across the dose range. Overall, 40 patients (30.1%) had > or = 1 clinical adverse experience. Only 14 (10.5%) had adverse experiences that were possibly, probably, or definitely related to study drug; none of these experiences were considered serious. The most common adverse experiences (> or = 3% incidence) were abdominal pain (6%); chest pain (5%); dizziness (4%); and asthenia/fatigue, fibromyalgia, headache, insomnia, and upper respiratory tract infection (3% each). No new or unexpected adverse experiences were seen at the higher doses. CONCLUSIONS: Simvastatin was effective and well tolerated at doses of 20, 40, and 80 mg/d in Asian patients with coronary heart disease. Titration enabled the majority to achieve target LDL-C levels of < or = 100 mg/dL.

Acute and follow-up results of laser angioplasty: single center experience.

Excimer laser angioplasty was used to treat total occluded coronary arteries and instent restenosis lesions with high success rate. To assess immediate and long-term results of patients treated with excimer laser, we analyzed demographic information and the immediate results of 44 patients who underwent ELCA. The patients were followed up and assessed for clinical restenosis. The initial success rate of ELCA was 86.4 per cent which is comparable to plain balloon angioplasty performed during the same period. Clinical restenosis was 29 per cent. In conclusion, ELCA for patients with coronary artery disease can be performed with initial high success rate and reasonable long-term restenosis.

Short-term effects of atenolol in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a common cause of heart failure with systolic dysfunction. Medications used to treat this condition are usually for symptomatic relief. We studied the effect of atenolol in heart failure caused by dilated cardiomyopathy in a double blinded randomized fashion. There were 17 males and 5 females. All patients underwent right and left heart catheterization, coronary angiography, endomyocardial biopsy, exercise testing and doppler echocardiography. By 3 months, atenolol significantly reduced resting and exercise heart rate and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. There was no difference in exercise capacity. We conclude from this study that atenolol improve hemodynamic condition in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy without improving exercise capacity during this short observation period.

Relationship between exercise capacity and left ventricular function in aortic and mitral regurgitation.

The exercise capacity as assessed by treadmill exercise or functional class from clinical history cannot predict standard echocardiographic findings in patients with AR/MR, in terms of EF, LVDs, ESVI. Therefore, exercise capacity cannot be used to predict the timing for surgery in those patients. However, symptomatic patients with dilated LV usually have low LVEF such as in our group.

Left ventricular hypertrophy: relationship of echocardiographic and electrocardiographic findings in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy is important in patients with cardiac disease. To test the correlation of echocardiographic and electrocardiographic findings for diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy in Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy (IDC), 18 patients with proven IDC were examined. There were 15 males and 3 females, ages ranged from 22-60 years (mean 43 +/- 10.7). LV mass index ranged from 134.4-421.2 g/m2 (mean 187.8 +/- 68.6). All 18 patients had LVH by echocardiography but only 10 patients (55.6%) had LVH by using ECG Romhilt-Estes scoring system. The correlation between echocardiographic and electrocardiographic findings for diagnosis LVH was not significant (r = 0.026; p = 0.935) and echocardiography was better than electrocardiography for diagnosis of LVH in IDC.