The Treatment of Patients with Preclinical Atherosclerosis: Beyond the Progetto Cuore’s Card of Risk

According to the Progetto Cuore, subjects with at least 2 or 3 RF are currently considered at intermediate risk. Recently, we demonstrated that the instrumental evidence of preclinical ATS (IMT/ACP) puts these patients into a higher category of risk. The consequent implications in clinical practice are very important: more aggressive pharmacological strategies could be useful, even if this recommendation is not yet unanimous. The inclusion of carotid IMT assessment in the "Progetto Cuore's" cards could provide further information for a better determination of GCVR and for a more aggressive pharmacological primary prevention.

Keywords: Preclinical atherosclerosis, accurate GCVR stratification, clinical implications.