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A huge body of evidence now supports aggressive LDL cholesterol lowering to reduce cardiovascular risk, but what LDL cholesterol target level should be recommended? Here, Philip Barter and Kerry-Anne Rye examine the safety issues associated with achieving very low levels of LDL cholesterol and whether it is feasible to achieve very low levels in all high-risk people.
Despite imaging advances, diagnosis of infective endocarditis is not simple, and uncertainty about whether a surgical or nonsurgical approach is best and the timing of intervention can hamper therapy. In this Review, Saptarsi Haldar and Patrick O'Gara discuss the major features of diagnosis and therapy and make recommendations based on the available data.
More than 80% of the US elderly population dies from coronary heart disease, but the benefits of statin therapy are not realized. These drugs are frequently underprescribed to elderly patients because few relevant age-specific data are available. This Review draws together the findings from major studies and assesses the value of statin use in the elderly.
Improvement is still needed in the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis, which is the most common treatable cause of secondary hypertension. An accurate functional and morphological characterization of the disease might assist in management of patients. The value of magnetic resonance angiography in this setting is discussed.
