A modified magnetic scan can tell patients whether cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are actually unblocking their clogged arteries, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. The magnetic resonance imagine, or MRI, scans also can be used to settle arguments about how the drugs, which no one disputes work well to save lives, actually do it, the researchers, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said. The MRI showed artery-blocking plaque thinning after six months of statin treatment, the team reported. MRI has been used to monitor blocked arteries before but it typically took a year or more to show results. The Hopkins team improved their MRI's sensitivity by putting extra coil rings around the chest of each of the 29 patients in the study. An antenna was inserted through the nose and down the esophagus of each patient to amplify the signal. "Our study increases the likelihood that MRI could eventually be used as a predictive technology for determining which patients should be placed on statin therapy for atherosclerosis," said cardiologist Dr. Joao Lima, who led the study. --More 2353 Local Time 2053 GMT
