National Cholesterol Education Program (Ncep)

Jonathan N. Tobin & Tania Zazula

The greatest triumph of 20th-century cardiovascular medicine may not be recognized as the development of innovative surgical interventions, such as heart transplant, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and various endovascular procedures, including percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and stents, but rather as the movement toward prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD) through early detection and treatment of cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure and cholesterol. The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) represents one such strategy that combines public health interventions at the social level (weight control, reduction of dietary saturated fat and cholesterol intake, increases in fiber consumption and physical activity) with aggressive medical management at the individual patient level through pharmacotherapy with therapeutic lifestyle changes and, if necessary, by adding drugs that lower cholesterol, such as HMG CoA reductase inhibitors or statins. Practice guidelines, such as NCEP-ATP, ...

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