Pharmacotherapy for end-stage coronary artery disease.
BACKGROUND
Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the industrialized world. Despite advances in surgical and catheter-based interventions, a select number of patients remain with no options for invasive therapy. The goal of this review is to discuss the current status of pharmacotherapeutic interventions to treat end-stage coronary artery disease.


METHODS
Literature review on the topic of therapeutic angiogenesis from 1980 to 2009.


RESULTS
Insight into current therapeutic strategies employed to manage end-stage coronary artery disease.


CONCLUSIONS
A promising approach focuses on augmenting the endogenous angiogenic response to chronic myocardial ischemia via the use of growth factors.
Sodha
Neel R
NR
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Department of Surgery, LMOB 9B, 110 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Chu
Louis M
LM
Boodhwani
Munir
M
Sellke
Frank W
FW
D000818:Animals; D001158:Arteries; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000235:genetics*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A