Oh M, Kim H, Shin EW, et al. - In this 2-by-2 factorial trial, researchers compared ezetimibe/simvastatin 10/10 mg with rosuvastatin 10 mg for effects on carotid atherosclerotic plaque inflammation, using ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging. They randomized 50 patients with ¹⁸FDG uptake (target-to-background ratio [TBR] ≥ 1.6) in the carotid artery and acute coronary syndrome to either simvastatin/ezetimibe 10/10 mg or rosuvastatin 10 mg. At baseline and at 6 months, they performed ¹⁸FDG PET/CT examinations. The primary endpoint was percent change in the TBR of the index vessel at the most diseased segment. In this study, the observed improvement of carotid atherosclerotic plaque inflammation with ezetimibe/simvastatin treatment was similar to that seen with rosuvastatin treatment. This implies that both these treatment regimens have equivalent anti-inflammatory effects.