Cm. Barbagallo et al., EFFECTIVENESS OF CASCADE FILTRATION PLASMAPHERESIS IN 2 PATIENTS AFFECTED BY FAMILIAL HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA, Journal of clinical apheresis, 10(2), 1995, pp. 96-100
Hypercholesterolemia has been recognised as a primary risk factor for
coronary heart disease. Reduction of plasma levels of total and LDL ch
olesterol has been shown to decrease coronary atherosclerosis. Plasmap
heresis represents an useful non-pharmacological tool to treat severe
hypercholesterolemias. We have evaluated the effectiveness of a system
of plasmapheresis using a cascade filtration method in two young male
subjects (aged 16 and 26 years) with homozygous familial hypercholest
erolemia. Bath showed severe coronary atherosclerosis as determined by
angiography. Procedures were performed at intervals of 7 days in each
case. We observed a mean reduction of plasma levels of total choleste
rol of 59.5% (range 31.0-75.5%); LDL-cholesterol, 61.6% (range 32.6-77
.1%); triglycerides, 48.1%; HDL-cholesterol, 31.1%; apo A-I, 30.8%; an
d apo B, 57.6%. We also noted a reduction of other parameters, such as
fibrinogen (49.9%) and Lp(a) (59.9%). At the end of each procedure ab
out 8 g of cholesterol was removed from the total body pool. A decreas
e of total proteins (26.9%) and albumin (19.6%) was also observed, but
this was completely restored before the next apheresis (1 week). Thes
e data show the effectiveness of the removal of LDL in a cascade filtr
ation system, which obtains results not very different from other more
selective methods. The lack of selectivity is not much of a problem,
since it also reduces other risk factors such as Lp(a) and fibrinogen.
(C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.