ABSTRACT
Atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries is a very common autopsy finding, even in people not suffering from ischemic heart disease [1]. Although ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death in the industrialized countries [2], more persons live with coronary atherosclerosis than die of it. Therefore, the key question is not why atherosclerosis develops but, rather, why a quiescent atherosclerotic plaque, after years of indolent growth, suddenly ruptures and becomes highly thrombogenic-the life-threatening event responsible for the great majority of the acute coronary syndromes (ACS)[3,4].
