a 65-year-old man presented to the emergency room with a recent (4-hour) history of severe chest pain radiating to his left arm. he was suspected to have had a "heart attack." coronary angiography revealed a complete occlusion of the left anterior descending branch about 2 cm from its origin. he was given a therapeutic dose of recombinant human tissue plasminogen activator(t-PA). This treatment restored coronary artery blood flow, and his chest pain improved. Simultaneously, he was started on one tablet of aspirin per day. He has history of hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia.