Atherosclerosis updates 2023

Atherosclerosis continues to be the leading global cause for morbidity and mortality despite major progress in diagnosis and therapy in the last five decades. The knowledge matrix on atherosclerosis is composed from at least five disciplines: clinical medicine, genetics and epigenetics, vascular biology, epidemiology, and physiology.

Atherosclerosis is a polygenetic, inflammatory disease with multiple interactions with the environment. The syndromes resulting from atherosclerosis are mostly benign. The identification of individuals with chronic benign atherosclerosis-related syndromes that develop acute lethal syndromes, such as myocardial infarction and critical limb ischemia, is difficult and presents a major challenge to modern medicine.

The early development of atherosclerosis in infants and the natural history of clinical syndromes are still inadequately understood. Integrated studies of the five disciplines above provide invaluable information on the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and on potential future therapies.