Importance of the field: Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the industrialized world. Despite advances in surgical and catheter-based interventions, a select number of patients remain with no options for invasive therapy. The goal of this review is to discuss the current status of pharmacotherapeutic interventions to treat end-stage coronary artery disease.
Areas covered in this review: Literature review on the topic of therapeutic angiogenesis from 1980 to 2009.
What the reader will gain: Insight into current therapeutic strategies employed to manage end-stage coronary artery disease.
Take home message: A promising approach focuses on augmenting the endogenous angiogenic response to chronic myocardial ischemia via the use of growth factors.