Table 2. Clinical studies with VH-IVUS imaging—evaluation of drug efficacy.

Authors	Subjects	Therapy	Outcomes	Findings
Nasu et al. (17)	80 subjects with stable CAD	Fluvastatin vs. no statin use	Percent change in atheroma volume	Patients treated with fluvastatin were more likely to exhibit an increase in fibrous tissue volume (P=0.03) and a decrease of fibro-fatty (P<0.0001) and necrotic core volumes (P=0.004). Change in dense calcium volume was smaller in fluvastatin group (P=0.03)
Puri et al. (18)	71 subjects with CAD	80 mg atorvastatin vs. 20 mg rosuvastatin	Change in VH-IVUS derived plaque composition	High-intensity statin use was associated with a reduction in fibro-fatty tissue volume (P<0.001) and an increase in dense calcium tissue volume (P=0.002)
Räber et al. (19)	82 STEMI patients	10 mg rosuvastatin	Change in percent atheroma volume and VH-IVUS derived plaque composition	During the 13-month follow-up period, 10mg rosuvastatin induced a significant reduction of percent atheroma volume [−0.9% (95% CI: −1.56% to −0.25%, P=0.007)]. In addition, an increased percent volume of dense calcium [+1.28% (95% CI: 0.66% to 1.9%), P<0.001] and a decrease in percent volume of fibrous tissue [−1.38% (95% CI: −2.28 to −0.47), P=0.003] were observed. This therapy did not significantly modify volume of necrotic core [−0.05% (95% CI: −1.05 to 0.96), P=0.926]

ACS, acute coronary syndrome; CAD, coronary artery disease; CI, confidence interval; HR, hazard ratio; VH-IVUS, virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound.