Recent understanding of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease has shifted the focus from lumen stenosis to vulnerable plaque,\r\nfrom lipid deposit to inflammatory reaction, and from vulnerable plaque to vulnerable patient. This has led to a new direction\r\nof treatment consisting of intervening the inflammatory reaction, stabilizing the vulnerable plaque, inhibiting thrombosis after\r\nplaque rupture, and treating the vulnerable patient instead of treating lumen stenosis. This seems to mirror the traditional Chinese\r\nmedicine (TCM) focus on prevention and on the vulnerable patient with treatment matched to the pattern dysfunction and\r\ndysregulation using the Chinese herbal medicine multitargeted approach. Given the convergence of both the East and the West\r\nconceptualization of atherosclerosis, it is hopeful that the integrative East-West approach will facilitate early detection and more\r\neffective treatment of the vulnerable patients with coronary heart disease.
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