Residual cardiovascular risk in coronary artery disease: from pathophysiology to established and novel therapies.

Despite substantial advances in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries and its consequences remain the leading cause of death worldwide. Residual cardiovascular risk refers to the ongoing risk of recurrent cardiovascular events that persists in patients with coronary artery disease despite receiving optimal secondary prevention treatment and effective control of conventional risk factors. Lifestyle modification and therapies modulating thrombosis, blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol levels represent the standard approach for the prevention of recurrent cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease. However, current evidence-based therapies and lifestyle modification strategies only partially modulate the pathophysiological pathways involved in the progression and destabilization of atherosclerotic disease, and other mechanisms might have an important role, accounting, at least in part, for the residual cardiovascular risk in these patients. In this Review, we appraise the available evidence and latest insights into the mechanisms and associated biomarkers of recurrent adverse cardiovascular events and provide perspectives on strategies to reduce residual cardiovascular risk in patients with coronary artery disease.