Regression of carotid and femoral artery intima-media thickness in familial hypercholesterolemia: treatment with simvastatin.

Objective: To investigate whether high-dose simvastatin therapy could reduce carotid and femoral artery intima-media thickness (IMT) in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Background: Imaging of arterial walls with B-mode ultrasonography is increasingly used as a noninvasive surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease. Intervention trials using this modality have shown that by reducing risk factors, progression of atherosclerosis was inhibited.

Baseline lipid values partly determine the response to high-dose simvastatin in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. The examination of probands and relatives in Statin studies with familial hypercholesterolemia (ExPRESS FH).

Statins decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and additionally, reduce triglycerides (TG) and raise high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. This study evaluated the frequency of abnormal TG and HDL-C levels in patients with classical familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and assessed therapeutic response at different baseline levels of these lipoproteins after 1 year of statin therapy. A total of 508 FH patients were included and mean LDL-C levels (8.

Elevated remnant-like particles in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and response to statin therapy.

Background: Remnant lipoproteins (RLP-C) are considered important in atherogenesis. Hence, this study was designed to assess RLP-C levels and the effect of statin therapy in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Elevated RLP-C levels have been associated with the presence and progression of atherosclerotic disease, and their presence in FH patients has been proposed but never established in a large cohort, nor has their response to statin therapy been confirmed.