Het onvoorspelbare beloop van coronaire atherosclerose

Coronary atherosclerosis is a common disease. The plaques developing inside coronary vessels may have serious consequences such as myocardial infarction. However, the course of this multifactorial and heterogeneous disease is difficult to predict and is different for each patient. Atherosclerosis is often described as a gradually progressive disease, but in addition to slow progression, a certain periodicity is often seen. There may be periods with more stability and periods of regression. Several processes are known to be involved in plaque development and their increasing vulnerability. We describe some of these processes in this article. Despite existing knowledge about these processes, atherosclerosis periodicity remains largely unexplained. More insight into this periodicity may potentially be relevant to the development of new therapies. Drug therapy to lower LDL-cholesterol is currently the cornerstone of treatment, in addition to lifestyle advice.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.