Among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), clopidogrel is commonly used for the prevention of another cardiovascular (CV) event.1 However, the slow and variable transformation of clopidogrel to the active drug and its modest and variable platelet inhibition hamper the efficacy of the drug.1

Mixed data have been observed on the role of statins in the preventative setting of cardiovascular disease (CVD).¹ However, Dr. Raffaele Bugiardini, Department of Experimental, Diagnostic, and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy and his colleagues conducted a recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which demonstrated evidence that receiving statin therapy before initial acute coronary syndrome (ACS) could reduce acute heart failure (AHF) and improve patient survival rates.²

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is caused by large coronary plaques characterized by a lipid-rich pool covered by a thin fibrous cap, and visualized by intracoronary imaging.¹ Alirocumab, a PCSK9 inhibitor, lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and reduces the risk of major cardiovascular (CV) events in stabilized acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients.1 However, these patients remain at an increased risk of recurrent thrombosis due to high-risk plaques.¹

The new European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for the diagnosis and management of chronic coronary syndromes (CCS) were presented at the ESC congress 2019 in Paris, France. These new guidelines, which updated those published in 2013, have been revised to focus on CCS instead