Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death
Introduction The relationship between coronary heart disease (CHD) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) has long been recognized, with an initial description by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 15th century of…
Managing Chronic Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with Diabetes
Introduction Patients with diabetes mellitus—both type 1 and type 2—exhibit an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) with its sequelae of myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure. Compared to…
Invasive Testing
When noninvasive testing for coronary artery disease (CAD) is inconclusive or suggests significant pathology, invasive testing is necessary. X-ray coronary angiography provides an overview of the coronary circulation and in…
Global Risk Assessment
Introduction This chapter is focused on tools for risk assessment in patients with stable coronary heart disease. In general, patients with stable ischemic heart disease have a good prognosis. However,…
Putting It All Together: Which Test for Which Patient?
The Challenge of Noninvasive Test Selection for Stable Chest Pain The prevalence of angina is high in the general population and increases with age in both sexes, from approximately 3%…
The Medical Treatment of Stable Angina
Introduction The Context Medical therapy of stable angina aims to address the key factor mediating myocardial ischemia: oxygen supply/demand imbalance. Pain is not the only symptom that a patient with…
Lifestyle Interventions
More than 90% of all cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths are thought to be preventable through lifestyle changes. In the INTERHEART study, a case-control study of myocardial infarction (MI) in 52…
Obesity and the Obesity Paradox
Introduction After smoking, obesity is probably the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States and most of the westernized world. The estimated prevalence of obesity is almost…
Goals of Therapy
By its definition, chronic stable coronary artery disease (CAD) refers predominantly to patients who have a prior history of or current demonstrable obstructive atherosclerotic disease of the epicardial coronary arteries…
Lipid Measurements
Introduction Atheromatous plaque in arterial wall is the pathologic substrate for myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke and is intimately related to the deposition of oxidized lipids from the circulation into…
