Atherosclerosis plaque area reduction: working hypothesis to prevent cardiovascular event

Abstract

Cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death worldwide. In this sense, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main products of atherosclerosis (ATR), whose origin is multifactorial. The measurable identification of the so-called cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) was a great advance for its prevention. Scientific evidences have shown that the reduction of mortality due to cardiovascular disease is an important achievement of the optimal control of CRF. However, a large proportion of patients have cardiovascular events when CRF is controlled. It is therefore imperative to stratify the patient’s risk in order to design the specific and individual treatment strategy. Currently, there are cardiovascular risk classification (CVR) scales that contemplate the combination of the multiple CRF that patients may present, although it is known that most of these algorithms sub- or overestimate the possibility of cardiovascular events. The incorporation of intermediate cardiovascular surrogates to CRF and events, such as the measurement of carotid atherosclerosis, is demonstrating an improvement in the diagnosis and fewer events in the healthy population, with high cardiovascular risk, treated with the incorporation of these to the diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms.