[Some current views on chronic ischemic heart disease].

Chronic myocardial ischemia results from a temporary disbalance between supply of oxygen to myocardium and consumption of oxygen by myocardium. The most frequent cause of ischemic heart disease is atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries. At present, diagnosis of coronary impairment is for practical reasons not possible until myocardial ischemia is detectable. Despite the current pharmacological treatments, data from the recent studies justify stratification of prognosis of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease into subgroups with low, medium and high risk. Mean annual mortality is below 1% in patients with low risk, 1-2% in patients with medium risk and above 2% in patients with high risk. Revascularization procedures might improve prognosis in certain subgroups of patient with chronic ischemic heart disease. Revascularization also decreases the incidence of ischemic episodes and improves the left ventricle function in some subgroups.