Genetic polymorphisms and ischemic heart disease

Although the progression in diagnostic tools, prevention strategies, and therapies, ischemic heart disease still represents the major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide that globally represents an important problem for individuals and healthcare resources. By convention, ischemic heart disease is associated with the presence of an atherosclerotic plaque that is able to limit the flow in large-medium-sized coronary arteries. Nevertheless, several findings suggest a more complex pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease. At this time, there is no well-defined assessment of myocardial ischemia pathophysiology. Moreover, several data have identified genetic variations at different loci that are linked with ischemic heart disease susceptibility. This chapter aims to examine this complicated disease and to review the evidence on the genetic heritability acting with other factors in determining the presence of ischemic heart disease, due to either an obstruction in epicardial vessels or a dysfunction of coronary microcirculation