[The long-term therapy of familial hypercholesterolemia with heparin-induced extracorporeal LDL precipitation]

The long-term tolerance to and effectiveness of heparin-induced extracorporeal LDL precipitation (HELP) in combination with lipid reducing drugs and diet was tested in six patient (5 males, 1 female; mean age 48 +/- 4 years). Follow-up period was over 50 months, in one patient over 24 months, while one man had a sudden cardiac death 57 weeks after starting treatment. The study was divided into three phases. In phase I (24 months) treatment consisted of HELP and conventional lipid-reducing drugs; in phase II (12 months) of lovastatin (80 mg daily) and cholestyramine (12-24 g daily); and phase III (14 months) of HELP, lovastatin and cholestyramine. In phase I it was possible to lower the pre-treatment level of LDL-cholesterol from 306 +/- 18 mg/dl to 173 +/- 13 mg/dl (43.5%). A similar effect (from 307 +/- 21 mg/dl to 155 +/- 17 mg/dl [-49.5%]) was obtained in phase II. The resumption of HELP reduced the pre-treatment LDL concentration to 136 +/- 9 mg/dl (-55.7%). The various treatment regimens were well tolerated. Biochemical data remained unchanged except for iron loss requiring substitution. Thus combined HELP, lovastatin and ion exchange offer for the first time an effective and reliable means in familial hypercholesterolaemia of clearly reducing long-term the mean LDL cholesterol level below the atherosclerosis threshold of 120 mg/dl.