ELEVATED LIPOPROTEIN (A) LEVELS IN PATIEN TS TRANSPLANTED FOR ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE

Objectives: Increased levels of serum lipoprotein (a) in heart transpl ant patients has been recently shown to be related to early recurrence of coronary artery disease. In order to evaluate the effect of the is chaemic origin of the heart disease we compared lipoprotein (a) levels observed in heart transplant patients who underwent transplantation d ue to ischaemic heart disease and non-obstructive cardiomyopathy with those in healthy control subjects. Methods: Serum levels lipoprotein ( a) were measured in 62 cardiac transplantation recipients who had a hy perlipidemia. The results were compared with those of 212 control subj ects matched for age and who were referred for hyperlipidemia. Results : In the whole population 40 patients had been operated on for coronar y heart disease and 22 for idiopathic cardiomyopathy. The two populati ons did not differ with regard to their cardiovascular risk factors ex cept for the smoking status. The mean Lp(a) values were significantly higher in the subjects with coronary heart disease as compared with th ose with idiopathic cardiomyopathy (0.33 +/- 0.24 and 0.21 +/- 0.17 mg /dl respectively; p < 0.05). The latter were not different from the co ntrol group (0.22 +/- 0.19 mg/ml). We did not find any difference betw een the two populations concerning the drugs taken by the patients (es pecially cyclosporine), LDL-cholesterol, creatinine, fasting blood glu cose and TSH. Conclusion: Our data confirm the relation between corona ry atherosclerosis and high lipoprotein (a) levels.