1. Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study Group. Randomized trial of cholesterol lowering in 4,444 patients with coronary heart disease. Lancet. 1994. 344:1383–1389.
2. Shepherd J, Cobbe SM, Ford I, et al. Prevention of coronary heart disease with pravastatin in men with hypercholesterolemia. N Engl J Med. 1995. 333:1301–1307.
3. Sacks FM, Pfeffer MA, Moye LA, et al. The effect of pravastatin on coronary events after myocardial infarction in patients with average cholesterol levels. N Engl J Med. 1996. 335:1001–1009.
4. The Long-Term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) Study Group. Prevention of cardiovascular events and death with pravastatin in patients with coronary heart disease and a broad range of initial cholesterol levels. N Engl J Med. 1998. 339:1349–1357.
5. Downs JR, Clearfield M, Weis S, et al. Primary prevention of acute coronary events with lovastatin in men and women with average cholesterol levels: results of AFCAPS/TexCAPS. JAMA. 1998. 279:1615–1622.
6. Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group. MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol lowering with simvastatin in 20,536 high-risk individuals: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2002. 360:7–22.
7. Hong YJ, Jeong MH, Lim JH, et al. The prognostic significance of statin therapy according to the level of C-reactive protein in acute myocardial infarction patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Korean Circ J. 2003. 33:891–900.
8. Hong YJ, Jeong MH, Hwang SH, et al. Effect of combination therapy with simvastatin and carvedilol in patients with left ventricular dysfunction complicated with acute myocardial infarction who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Circ J. 2006. 70:1269–1274.
9. Hong YJ, Jeong MH, Hyun DW, et al. Prognostic significance of simvastatin therapy in patients with ischemic heart failure who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction. Am J Cardiol. 2005. 95:619–622.
10. Falk E. Coronary thrombosis: pathogenesis and clinical manifestations. Am J Cardiol. 1991. 68:28B–35B.
11. Naghavi M, Libby P, Falk E, et al. From vulnerable plaque to vulnerable patient: a call for new definitions and risk assessment strategies: part I. Circulation. 2003. 108:1664–1672.
12. Mintz GS, Nissen SE, Anderson WD, et al. American College of Cardiology Clinical Expert Consensus Document on Standards for Acquisition, Measurement and Reporting of Intravascular Ultrasound Studies (IVUS): a report of the American College of Cardiology Task Force on Clinical Expert Consensus Documents. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001. 37:1478–1492.
13. Sipahi I, Nicholls SJ, Tuzcu EM, Nissen SE. Coronary atherosclerosis can regress with very intensive statin therapy. Cleve Clin J Med. 2006. 73:937–944.
14. Roberts WL, Moulton L, Law TC, et al. Evaluation of nine automated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein methods: implications for clinical and epidemiological applications: part 2. Clin Chem. 2001. 47:418–425.
15. Strandberg TE, Vanhanen H, Tikkanen MJ. Effect of statins on C-reactive protein in patients with coronary artery disease. Lancet. 1999. 353:118–119.
16. Ridker PM, Rifai N, Pfeffer MA, et al. Inflammation, pravastatin, and the risk of coronary events after myocardial infarction in patients with average cholesterol levels. Circulation. 1998. 98:839–844.
17. Park SY, Kwak JJ, Park SH. Dose dependent changes of lipid profiles, IL-6 and CRP in unstable angina patients after simvastatin therapy. Korean Circ J. 2003. 33:663–670.
18. Dupuis J, Tardif JC, Cernacek P, Theroux P. Cholesterol reduction rapidly improves endothelial function after acute coronary syndromes. Circulation. 1999. 99:3227–3233.
19. Son JW, Koh KK. Effects of statins on endothelium: vasomotor function, inflammation, and hemostasis. Korean Circ J. 1999. 29:1016–1031.
20. Lacoste L, Lam JY, Hung J, Letchacovski G, Solymoss CB, Waters D. Hyperlipidemia and coronary disease: correction of the increased thrombogenic potential with cholesterol reduction. Circulation. 1995. 92:3172–3177.
21. Kim YS, Ahn Y, Hong MH, et al. Rosuvastatin suppress the inflammatory responses through inhibition of c-Jun N-terminal kinase and nuclear factor-kappa B in endothelial cells. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2007. 49:376–383.
22. Nissen SE, Yock P. Intravascular ultrasound: novel pathophysiological insights and current clinical applications. Circulation. 2001. 103:604–616.
23. Nissen SE. Effect of intensive lipid lowering on progression of coronary atherosclerosis: evidence for an early benefit from the Reversal of Atherosclerosis with Aggressive Lipid Lowering (REVERSAL) trial. Am J Cardiol. 2005. 96:61F–68F.
24. Nissen SE, Nicholls SJ, Sipahi I, et al. Effect of very high-intensity statin therapy on regression of coronary atherosclerosis. JAMA. 2006. 295:1556–1565.
25. Hong MK, Lee CW, Kim YH, et al. Usefulness of follow-up low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level as an independent predictor of changes of coronary atherosclerotic plaque size as determined by intravascular ultrasound analysis after statin (atorvastatin or simvastatin) therapy. Am J Cardiol. 2006. 98:866–870.
26. Nicholls SJ, Tuzcu EM, Sipahi I, et al. Statins, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and regression of coronary atherosclerosis. JAMA. 2007. 297:499–508.
27. Nissen SE, Tuzcu EM, Schoenhagen P, et al. Statin therapy, LDL-cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med. 2005. 352:29–38.