Endothelial function testing.

It has been shown that the presence of well-preserved brachial artery vasoreactivity predicts the absence of coronary artery disease. The recent findings that coronary endothelial dysfunction is associated with an increased risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack in middle-aged patients without coronary artery disease support the concept that endothelial dysfunction is a systemic and prognostically relevant disorder and assessment of endothelial function may play a role as an additional strategy to identify patients who would benefit from aggressive preventive measures. It remains unknown whether an improvement in endothelial function directly translates into improved outcome.