Lipoprotein apheresis efficacy and challenges: single center experience

Abstract Introduction Lipoprotein apheresis (LA) is an extracorporeal therapy which removes apolipoprotein B-containing particles from the circulation. We evaluated techniques and efficiency of lipoprotein apheresis procedures applied to patients with familial and non-familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) at our center. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 250 LA procedures applied to 27 patients with dyslipidemia between March 2011 and August 2019. Results A total of 27 patients, of whom 19 (70.4%) were male and 8 (29.6%), female, were included. Eighteen (66.7%), 6 (22.2%) and 3 (11.1%) patients were diagnosed with non-FH, homozygous FH (HoFH) and heterozygous FH (HeFH), respectively. Two different apheresis techniques, direct adsorption of lipoproteins (DALI) (48.8%) and double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) (51.2%), were used. The change in the serum total cholesterol (TC) level was the median 302 mg/dl (171-604 mg/dl) (60.4%) in HoFH patients, 305 mg/dl (194-393 mg/dl) (60.8%) in HeFH patients and 227 mg/dl (75-749 mg/dl) (65.3%) in non-FH patients. The change in the serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level was the median 275 mg/dl (109-519 mg/dl) (64.2%), 232 mg/dl (207-291 mg/dl) (64.5%) and 325 mg/dl (22-735 mg/dl) (70.9%) in patients with HoFH, HeFH and non-FH, respectively. A significantly effective reduction in serum lipid levels, including TC, LDL and triglycerides, was achieved in all patients, regardless of the technique, p< .001. The decrease in the serum TC and LDL levels was significantly higher in the DFPP, compared to the DALI, being 220 mg/dl (-300 to 771) vs 184 mg/dl (64-415), p< .001 and 196 mg/dl (11-712) vs 157 mg/dl (54-340), p< .001, respectively. Conclusions Our results showed that LA is a highly effective treatment in reducing serum lipid levels and safe, without any major adverse event.

Application of Lipoprotein Apheresis in Patients With Familial Hypercholesterolemia / 中国循环杂志

Objective: To explore the safety and efficacy of lipoprotein apheresis (LA) in treating the patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Methods: A total of 12 FH patients treated in our hospital from 2015-02 to 2016-10 were retrospectively studied. Based on intensive cholesterol lowering therapy with rosuvastatin (10-20) mg Qd and Ezetimibe 10 mg Qd, the patients received LA by double ifltration plasma pheresis (DFPP) via bilateral elbow central vein or femoral vein. The changes of lipid level were compared at before and after LA treatment. Results: For pre- and immediately after LA treatment, the average total cholesterol (TC) was (9.42±3.65) mmol/L vs (2.84±0.83) mmol/L, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was (7.31±3.46) mmol/L vs (1.95±0.82) mmol/L; at 1, 3, 7 and 30 days after treatment, TC and LDL-C levels showed increasing trend, while they were still lower than they were before treatment, allP Conclusion: LA therapy may decrease blood levels of TC and LDL-C at short term in FH patients with good tolerance;even TC and LDL-C could slowly increase after treatment, while combining with lipid lowering therapy, it has been a safe and effective method for treating relevant patients.