Recently, research on diagnosis of coronary plaque has shown significant advances. The REVERSAL study in patients with a history of CHD, by diagnosis with intravascular ultrasound, suggested that intensive lipid lowering therapy with atorvastatin (80 mg/day) was associated with no growth of plaque (-0.4% compared to baseline), whereas therapy with pravastatin (40 mg/day) showed a slight increase (2.7%) in plaque volume over 18 months in Western population.