Cholesterol-lowering and vascular reactivity in relation to coronary heart disease.

Despite the strong evidence that cholesterol-lowering treatment is effective in the primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, there is a great discrepancy between the results relating to prognosis and the ability of this treatment to induce regression of coronary atheromatous plaques. Since hypercholesterolemia causes a dysfunction in vascular reactivity, improvement can also be ascribed to restoration of vascular relaxation capacity. This conclusion is supported by a wealth of clinical and experimental evidence.