I n the past few years, several novel treatment modalities have emerged as potential alternatives to the standard therapeutic approaches for a number of cardiovascular diseases. An article published in the December 2008 issue of Angiology highlights the advantages of cell therapy as a new and promising approach for the management of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Peripheral arterial disease remains a major cause of morbidity. Despite the continuous advances in revascularization procedures and medical treatment, limb salvage and pain management are not satisfactory in patients with severe PAD. This has led to the exploration of alternative modes of treatment, such as the enhancement of new vessel formation, that is angiogenesis, by administration of vascular growth factors. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) levels are elevated in symptomatic PAD patients with critical limb ischemia. This finding, which reflects a physiologic response to limb ischemia, holds implications for the treatment of PAD. In an earlier study, it was demonstrated that plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bFGF may not only indicate the severity and extent of PAD but also predict the effectiveness of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cell implantation as the treatment strategy employed for the management PAD. Positive results for autologous bone marrow mononuclear cell implantation for the treatment of critical limb ischemia have also been reported by other groups. Besides the development of ‘‘new’’ therapeutic strategies for the management of ‘‘old’’ diseases, another scenario that is often seen nowadays is the report of nonclassical, ‘‘emerging’’ indications for several agents beyond and in addition to their established action. An example of such a drug is statins. Statins (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors), used to treat hyperlipidemia, were shown in both in vitro and in vivo studies to exert beneficial effects beyond cholesterol lowering. Besides their established role in the management of hypercholesterolemia, statins may also have beneficial actions in other pathological conditions, namely (a) osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related bone fractures, (b) cancer, (c) solid organ transplantation, (d) cerebrovascular events (transient ischemic attack and stroke episodes), (e) various neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, (f) cardiac arrhythmias and heart failure, (g) renal diseases, (h) rheumatoid arthritis, (i) autoimmune diseases, (j) sepsis, and (k) allergic asthma. The role of statins in the management of these diseases (also called ‘‘statin pleiotropy’’) is reviewed elsewhere. The role of From the Department of Vascular Surgery (KIP) and 2nd Department of Cardiology (CP, TD, DGC, ZSK), Red Cross Hospital, Athens, Greece; Department of Clinical Biochemistry (Vascular Disease Prevention Clinic), Royal Free Hospital Campus, University College London (UCL), University of London, London, United Kingdom (DPM).