Findings of clinical trials that evaluate the impact of medical therapies on progression of atherosclerosis

Abstract

Background:

Arterial wall imaging has been increasingly employed in clinical trials to evaluate the impact of medical therapies on progression of atherosclerosis.

Scope:

A selective overview of major findings from clinical trials that assessed the impact of medical therapies on atherosclerosis progression.

Findings:

Targeting established risk factors including LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and blood pressure has a beneficial impact on disease progression.

Conclusion:

As a result, vascular imaging has been employed in the early evaluation of experimental therapies.

Key words::

• Atherosclerosis
• Clinical trials
• Imaging
• Prevention
• Risk factors

Transparency

Declaration of funding

This was a commissioned article. No third-party funding was provided for writing or publication of the article.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

S.J.N. has disclosed that he has received honoraria or consulting fees from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck, Takeda, Roche, Esperion and Novo-Nordisk, and research support from AstraZeneca, Novartis, Eli Lilly and Resverlogix. A.L. has disclosed the sponsorship of Hospitals of Regina Foundation, Canada. K.U. and O.B. have no financial relationships to disclose.

Some peer reviewers receive honoraria from CMRO for their review work. The peer reviewers of this paper have disclosed that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Acknowledgment

The authors have disclosed that they had no outside editorial assistance in preparing this manuscript.