Aggressive statin therapy for acute coronary syndromes

Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) account for an enormous disease burden, especially in the Western world. Patients suffering acute coronary events are now understood to carry a very high risk of further coronary events and although improvements in conventional medical therapy over the past two decades have significantly reduced the risk, it remains high. Therapy with HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) have now been well established for the primary and secondary prevention of stable coronary heart disease, but recently a substantial body of evidence has proven their efficacy in the treatment of ACS. This article examines this emerging evidence for the use of statins in ACS.