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Potpourri 2016
Recent clinical trial data has strengthened the argument that lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) to levels well below those previously targeted provides incremental benefit in terms of lowering the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).1 The increased use of high-... more
Statins currently stand as the cornerstone of therapeutic strategies for the reduction of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events.1–4 However, despite their chronicled successes over the past 30 years since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lovastatin, multiple analyses of clinical... more
This issue sponsored by the National Lipid Association Featuring: “Search for the Secondary Cause: Worth the Pause” and "Clinical Conundrum: The Estimated LDL-C Below 40 mg/dL" more
In April 2016, an expert consensus decision pathway on the role of non-statin therapies for lowering LDL-C in the management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. This document, which was endorsed by the National... more
The annual Potpourri edition of the LipidSpin is one of my favorites. What is published typically reflects what is in the forefront of the minds of several clinical lipidologists and clinical lipid specialists. I have spent the past several months debating how the 2016 American College of... more
It is a great time to be a clinical lipidologist and I want to thank all of the readers for a wonderful year as co-editor of LipidSpin! It has been the year of the PCSK9 inhibitor introduction and that has captured everyone’s attention. But that is not all that is going on in clinical lipidology;... more
Some patients refuse statin therapy or cannot tolerate its side effects. Many of these patients seek alternative therapies, including red yeast rice (RYR), a widely available herbal supplement made by culturing a yeast, Monascus purpureus, on rice. This process produces 14 monacolins, compounds... more
The approach to understanding hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, or both, starts with consideration of the underlying lipoprotein abnormalities present.1,2 This is followed by asking to what degree genetic or acquired causes explain the observed abnormalities. Since those with lipoprotein... more
Evaluation of a patient’s risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the basis of deciding whether to institute statin therapy. The 2013 ACC/AHA Guidelines on the Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk recommend using the Pooled Cohort Equation to predict the 10-year risk of having an atherosclerotic... more
Often there is a dichotomy regarding information published in the lay press versus what is presented in the medical literature. So it’s nice when both agree, except on those rare occasions, when both get it wrong. Despite numerous epidemiologic and observational studies to the contrary, Men’s... more