Current Vascular Pharmacology - Volume 13, Issue 6, 2015

Dyslipidemia plays an important role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. However, regression of atherosclerotic atheroma by introducing lipid lowering agents is not fully understood but looks promising. More questions still need to be answered in terms of the modality of assessment, time course of changes and its documentation, whether plaque progression or regression asses Read More

The current view is that systemic inflammation, which is specific to all chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRD), accelerates atherogenesis; this hypothesis is supported by the high cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality rates and the high prevalence of all atherosclerosis stages and complications in CIRD patients. The assessment of traditional CV risk factors underestimates the actual risk in patients with CIRD. A com Read More

Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome due to a damage of skeletal muscle and the leakage of intracellular contents into the extracellular fluid and the circulation. Several causes may induce rhabdomyolysis and the major one is the crush syndrome. Most cases of non-traumatic rhabdomyolysis are related to drugs. Many molecules are subject to hepatic metabolism and the concomitant use of drugs, as statins, with other medication Read More

Atrial fibrillation (AF), one of the most prevalent supra-ventricular arrhythmia in adults, is related to a substantial increase in the risk of thromboembolic events requiring tailored preventive strategy. In AF, antithrombotic therapy should be individualized according to a careful decisionmaking process, taking in account the likely concomitant presence of risk factors for stroke and bleeding. Anticoagulation mana Read More

Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is the initial step in the development of atherosclerosis, leading to cardiovascular disease (CVD). It has been suggested that periodontal disease (PD) could be associated to pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, since it is able to trigger a host response with systemic inflammation. Although a number of epidemiological studies have shown that periodontitis could be associated with ED, it is still unclear Read More

We present clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HoFH) in the Middle East region. While guidelines are broadly applicable in Europe, in the Middle East we experience a range of confounding factors that complicate disease management to a point whereby the European guidance cannot be applied without significant modification. Specifically, for disease pre Read More

Background: Financial status has been considered as an important health determinant and associated with compliance to healthier lifestyle habits, medical treatment and increased prevalence of mental disorders. The aim of this work was to evaluate the association between financial status, patient adherence to medication, 10-year allcause mortality and risk for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), in a Greek sample of cardiac Read More

Background and Aims: The protective role of Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has been extensively discussed in the literature, but its incremental effect over the use of CVD risk reducing agents (such as hypolipidemic treatment) has rarely been evaluated. Methods: The ATTICA study was carried out in the Athens area during 2001-2002 and included 3042 participants free of CVD at baseline Read More

Aim: To assess the potential differences in the metabolic and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk between the distinct phenotypes of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) according to the Rotterdam definition regardless of body mass index (BMI). Patients-Methods: The study included 300 women; 240 women with PCOS, according to the Rotterdam criteria and 60 controls without PCOS. All women were further subdivided, Read More

Objective The aetiology of varicose veins involves various factors and pathomechanisms including endothelial cell activation or dysfunction, venous hypertension, vein wall hypoxia, shear stress disturbances, inflammatory reaction activation or free radical production. To improve our understanding of the mechanisms of potential pharmacological interventions for chronic venous disease, we evaluated the influence of Read More

Background: The aim of the present interim analysis was to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of the generic clopidogrel besylate (CB) with the innovator clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate (CHS) salt in patient groups eligible to receive clopidogrel. Methods: A 2-arm, multicenter, open-label, phase 4 clinical trial. Consecutive patients (n=1,864) were screened and 1,800 were enrolled in the trial and randomized to CHS (n=759) Read More