A widely accepted hypothesis suggests coronary atherosclerosis (CA) is initiated by dysfunction of the arterial lumen. Vladomir Subbotin, MD and Ph.D., writes, “[S]talled progress in pharmaceutical treatment gives a good reason to review logical properties of the hypothesis underlining our efforts, and to reconsider whether our perception of coronary atherosclerosis is consistent with facts about the normal and diseased coronary artery.” In this extended review, Subbotin argues coronary atherosclerosis begins not because of dysfunction in the arterial lumen but rather in the vasa vasorum.
Read MoreNeovascularization of Coronary Tunica Intima Is the Cause of Coronary Atherosclerosis: A Hypothesis[D]ifferentiating between cause and non-causative factors is essential. Elimination of the latter only ameliorates or reduces the incidence whereas elimination of the former eradicates the disease. Swamps are not a cause of malaria. Draining swamps may reduce the incidence of malaria but it is eradication of the malarial parasites that eliminates the disease. Reduction in incidence rather than elimination of the disease precludes a causal relationship.