Recent studies have implicated inflammation in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are predictive of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) following stenting.

The study comprised 193 patients (90 men, 152 unstable angina, mean age 63 years) between October 1999 and March 2001. The patients were classified into 2 groups according to their MACE, [group A; MACE (+), n=46 and group B; MACE (-), n=147].

During clinical follow-up at a mean duration of 15 months, there was 1death, 7 myocardial infarctions, 25 cases of revascularization therapy, and 13 recurrent anginas. At 24 hours after stenting, the CRP levels were significantly higher in group A compared to group B (5.4, 0.6-15.2 vs. 3.1, 0.1-9.8 mg/L, respectively, p<0.01), with the elevation of the CRP level ( >8.0 mg/L) occurring more commonly in group A than group B (24% vs. 9%, p<0.05). The differences in the CRP levels between the baseline and 24 hours following stenting (CRP 24h-base ) were also significantly higher in group A than in group B. After adjustment for age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factor, multi-variate analysis using logistic regression revealed the CRP levels 24 hours after stenting were predictive of MACE, with an odd ratio of 1.6 (95% CI 1.1-2.2, p=0.01).

CRP levels, 24 hours following intervention, are powerful predictor of cardiac events in patients with stable or unstable angina undergoing coronary stenting. These results suggest that the inflammatory responsiveness to coronary intervention can plays an important role in predicting cardiac events.