How low should cholesterol go? For victims of recent heart attacks, the answer appears to be rock bottom.

　　A major study released on Monday found that especially aggressive treatment with statin drugs, intended to drive cholesterol far below current standards, prevents new heart problems and saves lives.

　　These drug are already a cornerstone of cardiac care, routinely prescribed for heart attack victims. However, the new results suggest doctors should opt for high doses of the most powerful brands to give recently discharged heart patients the best chance of survival.

　　"It's a lifesaving strategy and will become a huge paradigm shift in the treatment of patients with high cholesterol," predicted Dr Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

　　For several years, federal guidelines have recommended bringing down heart attack patients' levels of LDL, the bad cholesterol, below 100.

　　To test whether this is far enough, doctors compared two strategies - moderate doses of an older statin versus high doses of a more powerful newer one.

　　The older drug, Pravachol, dropped patients' LDL by almost one-quarter to 95. But the newer one, Lipitor, cut it in half to just 62.

　　The lower cholesterol made a difference. After two years of follow-up, 26 percent of those getting Pravachol had died or experienced a variety of other ill events, including new heart attacks, bypass surgery, rehospitalization for chest pain or strokes. The same happened in 22 percent on Lipitor.

　　The benefits appeared especially important for women. Their risk of these bad outcomes fell by seven percentage points.

　　"We have very big news in the treatment of cholesterol," said the study's director, Dr Christopher Cannon of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

　　Heart attack "patients going home from the hospital beginning today need to be treated with more intensive cholesterol-lowering."

　　Doctors caution that it is still too soon to say whether the same is true for heart patients who have not had recent heart attacks.

　　(The Associated Press)