Mechanical or metabolic treatment for coronary disease: synergistic, not antagonistic, approaches.

Cardiologists have traditionally focused on coronary narrowing as seen on angiography and have orientated treatment towards bypassing these lesions or widening them with angioplasty. In patients with stable coronary artery disease, percutaneous coronary interventions reliably relieve angina and myocardial ischemia, but do not prevent myocardial infarction or reduce mortality. Cholesterol lowering therapy has been shown, in several large, randomized trials reported over the past decade, to reduce mortality and coronary events, including the need for revascularization in a broad spectrum of patients. Mechanical and metabolic treatments for coronary disease should be used synergistically.