Effect of statin therapy on reperfusion arrhythmia in patients who underwent successful primary angioplasty.

Background: In animal models, pretreatment with statin can prevent reperfusion arrhythmia. In the observational study, we investigated whether pretreatment with statin may prevent reperfusion arrhythmia in patients who underwent primary coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Method And Results: A total of 226 consecutive patients who underwent successful primary angioplasty for a first AMI were studied. Reperfusion arrhythmias were defined as all arrhythmias that occurred within 2 h after successful primary angioplasty. The reperfusion arrhythmia was found in 130 of 226 patients. There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between the patients with and without statin pretreatment. However, the 41 patients receiving statin treatment before admission had lower incidence of the reperfusion arrhythmia than those without it (19.5% and 65.9%, P < 0.01). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that absence of statin pre-treatment was a significant predictor of the reperfusion arrhythmia along with absence of pre-infarction angina and inferior AMI.

Conclusion: Pre-treatment with statin could reduce the reperfusion arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction in human.