ABSTRACT
Atherosclerotic disease of small-diameter vessels remains the commonest cause of premature mortality in the Western world, with more than two of every five Americans dying of a cardiovascular event. The incidence of myocardial infarction is estimated at over a million cases annually in the USA alone, while the prevalence of stable angina is 16500000. Current treatment strategies include aggressive risk factor modification, lifestyle adjustment and pharmacologic intervention; however, increasing numbers of patients require revascularization necessitating coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
