Pravastatin, lipids, and atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries (PLAC-II)

We randomized 151 coronary patients to placebo or pravastatin and treated them for 3 years. B-mode ultrasound quantification of carotid artery intimal-medial thickness (IMT) was obtained at baseline and sequentially during this period. The primary outcome was the change in the mean of the maximal IMT measurements across time. Effects on individual carotid artery segments (common, bifurcation, and internal carotid) and on clinical events were also investigated. Plasma concentrations of total cholesterol were lower with active treatment than with placebo (4.80 vs 6.07 mmol/L [186 vs 235 mg/dl], respectively) as were concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (3.11 vs 4.30 mmol/L [120 vs 167 mg/dl], respectively). Plasma concentrations of high-density Iipoprotein2 cholesterol were higher with active treatment (0.16 vs 0.14 mmol/L [6.1 vs 5.5 mg/dl], respectively). Active treatment resulted in a nonsignificant 12% reduction in progression of the mean-maximum IMT (from 0.068 to 0.059 mm/year) and a statistically significant 35% reduction in IMT progression in the common carotid. Active treatment was also associated with a reduction in fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction (p = 0.09) and of any fatal event plus nonfatal myocardial infarction (p = 0.04).