Percutaneous coronary intervention results in acute increases in native and oxidized lipoprotein(a) in patients with acute coronary syndrome and stable coronary artery disease.

Objective: To investigate possible changes of native and oxidized lipoprotein(a) [ox-Lp(a)] levels after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: Lp(a), ox-Lp(a), and Lp(a) immune complexes (IC) and autoantibody levels were studied in 111 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and 68 patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) before and after PCI.

Results: Compared with pre-PCI, Lp(a), ox-Lp(a), and Lp(a)-IC levels acutely increased, while the autoantibody decreased in both the ACS and stable CAD patients. They all returned toward baseline by 1 to 2 days. The absolute change of ox-Lp(a) was found positively related with both the diameter of stenosis (R=0.273, P=0.004) and the number of vessel disease (R=0.312, P=0.001) in the ACS patients, while not in the stable CAD patients.

Conclusions: PCI results in acute plasma increases of ox-Lp(a) and Lp(a). Ox-Lp(a) may be present in ruptured or permeable plaques and be released into the circulation by PCI.