ABSTRACT
Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke and the leading cause of death and longterm disabilities in westernized societies. Several important environmental and genetic risk factors are associated with atherosclerosis. Over the past decade, it has become evident that atherosclerosis is not simply an inevitable degenerative consequence of aging, but rather a chronic inflammatory condition connecting altered cholesterol metabolism and other risk factors to the development and progression of the atherosclerotic lesion and its sequelae like plaque rupture and thrombosis220.
