Jeroen J. Bax, MD4

We evaluated the cardioprotective effects of intensive statin therapy before major vascular surgery in a prospective study of 359 subjects. After multivariate analysis, lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was associated with decreased myocardial ischemia, troponin T release, and 30-day and late cardiac events. Furthermore, higher doses of statins were associated with better cardiac outcome, even after adjusting for LDL cholesterol.