Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Diseases

1985 and 1986 were milestones for those who study atherosclerosis. In those years took place the USA Consensus Conference, followed first by the Italian Consensus Conference and then by the European one. They marked the final solution to the "querelle" on cholesterol and ischemic cardiopathy. On the basis of the results obtained from the Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (CPPT), plasmatic cholesterol is now no longer considered "a" risk factor in cardiovas- cular diseases, but "the cause" of atherosclerosis and its organ damages. This was also the basic statement that came out of the 6th International Congress on "Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Diseases". The meeting was attended by specialists from various countries representing different experimental ap- proaches to the cardiovascular diseases, from basic research (receptor pathol- ogy, apoproteins physiopathology); to epidemiology (both observational study and prevention); to pure cardiology in its aspects of physiopathology, diagnosis and therapy; to the new invasive and non-invasive diagnostic methods; and to the presentation of studies which correlate new variables (serotonin, en- dogenous opioids) with the atheromasic disease. The final outcome of this re- search is therapy, be it a pharmacological, nutritional and/or surgical one. Il- lustrious names from five continents dealt with a wide a range of topics, and their presentations produced a wealth of data. The presentations contained in this volume are the "corpus" of the congress and will serve as a precise updat- ing for all specialists, physicians and students.