MANILA, Philippines?New findings from a landmark trial reaffirms that patients with evidence of coronary artery disease undergoing aggressive rosuvastatin therapy could experience reverse plaque buildup in the arteries.

The therapy involved using a 40 milligrams once-a-day dosage of rosuvastatin (Crestor) for two years.

The findings are significant considering that this is the first time a statin?chiefly used for lowering cholesterol?has shown regression of coronary atherosclerosis in a major clinical study.

Coronary atherosclerosis is the major cause of heart attacks as well as sudden unexpected death among otherwise healthy adults in the prime of their lives.

Regression proven

Proponents of the landmark trial Asteroid, short for A Study To Evaluate the effect of Rosuvastatin On Intravascular ultrasound-Derived coronary atheroma burden, were able to prove the regression using two imaging techniques called intravascular ultrasound and quantitative coronary angiography on which the new report is based.

Furthermore, this is the first time that QCA was used to demonstrate regression of atherosclerosis as a result of statin monotherapy.

The trial showed positive result: those who have taken rosuvastatin for two years were able to exhibit significant decrease in percent diameter stenosis (abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel) as well as significant increase in minimum lumen diameter (referring to the channel that makes up the inside of the blood vessel).

Cholesterol levels

Furthermore, the report also noted a 53.3 percent reduction in LDL-cholesterol (the ?bad? cholesterol) level as well as a 13.8 percent increase in HDL-cholesterol (the ?good? cholesterol) level in patients who underwent the resuvastatin regimen.

Asteroid treated 507 coronary disease patients with rosuvastatin 40 mg a day for two years. The result of which was presented at the recent 57th annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology.

Asteroid is part of AstraZeneca?s (makers of Crestor) series of clinical trials?called Galaxy?designed to address important unanswered questions in statin research.

The Galaxy program has already enrolled more than 64,000 patients recruited from 55 countries worldwide.

Furthermore, these studies seek to validate the approach of targeting bad cholesterol and good cholesterol levels in order to attack the buildup of arterial plaque, the fundamental cause of heart disease.