With better drugs for high cholesterol, doctors become more ambitious with their treatment goals

In a new strategy for preventing heart attacks and strokes, leading cardiologists are urging their fellow physicians to focus on reducing the LDL cholesterol of patients at greatest risk of suffering a cardiovascular crisis, and to use costly new drugs if necessary.

These prescription medications have been shown to slash patients' levels of "bad" cholesterol by as much as 60 percent - an amount that can cut a population's rate of serious cardiovascular events by almost half, according to an analysis of large clinical trials.

For healthy people whose risk of a heart attack or stroke is only somewhat elevated, doctors should continue to recommend healthier lifestyles and inexpensive statin drugs such as Zocor (simvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Pravachol (pravastatin).

The new guidelines, released Saturday by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology,