Regression of atherosclerosis.

The reverse of progression of atherosclerotic disease is regression of atherosclerosis: established lesions get smaller. Animal experiments and post mortem findings have provided investigators with considerable evidence of the reversibility of atherosclerosis. It was, however, with arteriography in living man, as used in prospective intervention trials, that proof was given that atherosclerosis can be made to regress. The Leiden Intervention Trial and the Cholesterol Lowering Atherosclerosis Study (CLAS) both have shown that with aggressive lowering of serum cholesterol, be it with diet alone or with diet and cholesterol-lowering drugs, atherosclerosis growth can be retarded and reversed. The Leiden Intervention Trial and the CLAS study stress that cholesterol levels should be lowered in angina pectoris patients and in bypassed patients, whether their cholesterol levels are high or just slightly elevated.