The central role of invasive functional coronary assessment for patients with ischemic heart disease.

• Functional evaluation plays a key role to identify the mechanisms underlying myocardial ischemia also in patients with non-obstructive CAD. • Treatment of myocardial ischemia should be targeted to the underlying pathogenic mechanism, and for these reasons the use of an invasive functional approach may have important therapeutic implications. • Invasive functional assessment has important therapeutic and prognostic implications in patients with both acute and chronic coronary syndromes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]