Inflammation, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease

For every clinical cardiologist and cardiovascular researcher, Dr Göran Hansson’s review article on inflammation, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease should be compulsory reading...

Reduced endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and production in human atherosclerosis
B. S. Oemar, M. R. Tschudi, N. Godoy, V. Brovkovich, T. Malinski, T. F. Lüscher

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in vascular tone regulation and hemostasis. It relaxes vascular smooth muscle cells, inhibits platelet activation, and modulates migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells...

A comparison of balloon-expandable-stent implantation with balloon angioplasty in patients with coronary artery disease
P. W. Serruys, P. de Jaegere, F. Kiemeneij, C. Macaya, W. Rutsch, G. Heyndrickx, H. Emanuelsson, J. Marco, V. Legrand, P. Materne, et al; Benestent Study Group

In patients with stable coronary artery disease, percutaneous interventions are most frequently performed in the case of 1- and 2-vessel disease, while patients with main stem or 3-vessel disease usually undergo surgery. In the early days, the main mid- to long-term limitation of balloon angioplasty was the development of coronary restenosis, with rates ranging up to 50% of cases...

Site of intimal rupture or erosion of thrombosed coronary atherosclerotic plaques is characterized by an inflammatory process irrespective of the dominant plaque morphology
A. C. van der Wal, A. E. Becker, C. M. vand der Loos, P. K. Das

By the beginning of the 1990s, evidence had emerged that the risk of atherosclerotic plaque rupture and coronary thrombosis was related to the composition of the atherosclerotic plaque...

Effects of clopidogrel in addition to aspirin in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation
S. Yusuf, F. Zhao, S. R. Mehta, S. Chrolavicius, G. Tognoni, K. Fox; Clopidogrel in Unstable Angina to Prevent Recurrent Events Trial Investigators

Atherosclerotic plaque rupture with subsequent thrombus formation is the anatomical and pathophysiological correlate of acute coronary syndromes...

Pathology of drug-eluting stents in humans: delayed healing and late thrombotic risk
M. Joner, A. V. Finn, A. Farb, E. K. Mont, F. D. Kolodgie, E. Ladich, R. Kutys, K. Skorija, H. K. Gold, R. Virmani

The timing of this seminal article on the pathology of drug-eluting stents (DES) in humans, by Joner and colleagues, could probably not have been any better...

Tissue factor in cardiovascular diseases: molecular mechanisms and clinical implications
J. Steffel, T. F. Lüscher, F. C. Tanner

Tissue factor (TF) is the key initiator of coagulation and as such plays a pivotal role in thrombus formation and, consequently, in atherosclerotic- based vascular diseases like acute coronary syndromes...

A randomized comparison of a sirolimus-eluting stent with a standard stent for coronary revascularization
M.C. Morice, P. W. Serruys, J. E. Sousa, J. Fajadet, E. Ban Hayashi, M. Perin, A. Colombo, G. Schuler, P. Barragan, G. Guagliumi, et al; RAVEL Study Group

Coronary remodeling and, in turn, restenosis rates were significantly reduced with the introduction of balloon-expandable stents as compared with angioplasty alone (see above)...

Inflammatory markers at the site of ruptured plaque in acute myocardial infarction: locally increased interleukin-6 and serum amyloid A but decreased C-reactive protein
W. Maier, L. A. Altwegg, R. Corti, S. Gay, M. Hersberger, F. E. Maly, MD; G. Sütsch, M. Roffi, M. Neidhart, F. R. Eberli, et al.

More than 10 years after Van der Wal and colleagues’ work, Maier and colleagues studied the nature of the inflammatory microenvironment after coronary plaque rupture in vivo...

Prevention of cardiovascular events and death with pravastatin in patients with coronary heart disease and a broad range of initial cholesterol levels
Long-Term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) Study Group

In this seminal study, the Long-term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) Study Group investigated the effect of cholesterol-lowering therapy on mortality from coronary heart disease and overall mortality...