Impact of Olmesartan on Progression of Coronary Atherosclerosis: A Serial Volumetric Intravascular Ultrasound Analysis From the OLIVUS (Impact of OLmesarten on progression of coronary atherosclerosis: evaluation by IntraVascular UltraSound) Trial

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of olmesartan on progression of coronary atherosclerosis. Background Prior intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) trial results suggest slowing of coronary atheroma progression with some medicines but have not shown convincing evidence of regression with angiotension-II receptor blocking agents. Methods A prospective, randomized, multicenter trial—OLIVUS (Impact of OLmesartan on progression of coronary atherosclerosis: evaluation by IntraVascular UltraSound)—was performed in 247 stable angina pectoris patients with native coronary artery disease. When these patients underwent percutaneous coronary intervention for culprit lesions, IVUS was performed in their nonculprit vessels (without angiographically documented coronary stenosis [ Results Patient characteristics and blood pressure control were identical between the 2 groups. However, follow-up IVUS showed significantly decreased TAV and percent change in PAV in the olmesartan group (5.4% vs. 0.6 % for TAV and 3.1% vs. −0.7% for percent change in PAV, control vs. olmesartan, p Conclusions These observations suggest a positive role in a potentially lower rate of coronary atheroma progression through the administration of olmesartan, an angiotension-II receptor blocking agent, for patients with stable angina pectoris.