Purpose of review: Coronary artery disease is the largest cause of premature death in the Western world. Lipid-lowering therapy with statins has revolutionized the management of this condition over the past decade.
Recent developments: Successive clinical trials have lowered the treatment bar for statin therapy in patients with coronary artery disease. In addition to traditional markers of efficacy such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, emerging targets such as C-reactive protein are becoming recognized as important therapeutic goals.
Summary: This review focuses on the important contributions to the literature during the past year and provides an expert opinion of the therapeutic goals for statin therapy.