Statins seem to calm artery inflammation quickly, no matter how long you take them or how inflamed you were at the start — and it doesn’t seem to be tied to the usual blood inflammation test (CRP).

Taking statins may help calm down inflammation in the walls of arteries, which can be seen on a special scan that tracks sugar use by inflamed cells.

Stronger statins seem to calm artery inflammation better than weaker ones, based on scans that show how much sugar inflamed cells are using.

A special scan that tracks sugar use in artery walls can reliably show whether inflammation is going down — and it works in different parts of the body’s arteries.

When statins lower bad cholesterol, artery inflammation tends to go down too — the two seem to move together.

Statins reduce intraplaque inflammation, thereby decreasing the likelihood of atherosclerotic plaque rupture and subsequent thrombotic events.