The first study to compare two powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs in coronary artery disease finds that one appears to be superior. Cholesterol drug atorvastatin slightly reduced the build-up of plaque in arteries in the first clinical trial of its kind, as reported by researchers.
![Atorvastatin clears existing plaque Atorvastatin clears existing plaque](https://drop.ndtv.com/images/story-noimage.png?q=50)
The study assessed the progression of atherosclerosis (disease of blood vessels characterised by deposition of fat on the inside of the walls of large to medium-sized arteries making them hard and brittle and prone to blockage) using a tiny ultrasound camera that was threaded into coronary arteries, allowing researchers to look directly at the growth of plaque. Large studies are under way seeking to determine if more growth, as detected by the ultrasound camera, means more heart attacks and deaths, but many cardiologists predict that it does. Pravastatin patients in the study whose L.D.L. levels fell below 100 still had plaque growth while atorvastatin patients with those L.D.L. levels did not. While several drugs on the market stop new plaque or atherosclerosis from building up, no drug on the market has been proven to both stop new build-up and substantially clear existing plaque.
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