Researchers are continually adding to the vascular specialists' arsenal. The stents, which have always been for large vessels, are now being developed smaller and smaller for use inside the head. In addition, aneurysms may soon be treated with a sort of putty compatible with body tissues that physicians can spread onto an artery wall, Giannotta says. Soon basic science and medicine will converge in new treatments. Faxon and colleagues are participating in two trials to inject the potential seeds of new blood vessels into advanced-stage heart patients who are not good candidates for surgery or angioplasty.
Physicians are concerned that growth factors can cause tumors, but studies are still developing.
Whatever the future treatment, physicians agree the best way to deal with vascular disease is prevention. That is where Hodis, director of the USC Atherosclerosis Research Unit, comes in. Hodis doggedly tracks down the reasons atherosclerosis forms, and is committed to helping patients lead longer, healthier lives without heart disease. So does controlling certain fatty acid molecules, known as triglycerides, through diet. Hodis' team has shown that simple lifestyle changes over several years can stop or even reverse atherosclerosis.