Patients with coronary artery disease requiring coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are at risk for postoperative complications after surgery. The StaRT-CABG trial is the first large-scale (2,630 patients) that will investigate whether an additional treatment with statins (lipid-lowering medication) in high doses before CABG surgery can reduce the incidence of major post-surgery complications including death, myocardial infarction and stroke. The StaRT-CABG trial will be recruiting patients from 8 cardiac surgery centres in Germany and is expected to provide relevant clinical data on the efficacy of this novel treatment in order to optimize the care for all patients undergoing CABG.