Tangier disease in family with the phenotype of familial hypercholesterolemia.

Within the project MedPed (Make Early Diagnosis to Prevent Deaths) we have examined patient with familial hypercholesterolemia in our lipid ambulance. During the following investigation of the patients family we found out that her sister has on the contrary very low levels of  total and LDL-cholesterol. Concentration of  HDL-cholesterol was extreamly low (almost immeasurable). Differential diagnosis uttered a suspicion of rare form of familial hypoalfalipoproteinemia so-called Tangier disease. This suspicion was then confirmed by molecular genetic examination. Tangier disease is a rare lipoprotein metabolism disorder characterized biochemically by  almost complete absence of plasmatic HDL- cholesterol, extremely low level of apolipoprotein A-I and accumulation of cholesterol esters in macrophages. The first case was recorded on the Tangier island in 1961. In our research we describe the first case of a patient with homozygous form of Tangier disease in the history of the Czech Republic.

Real-life LDL-C treatment goals achievement in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: Results of the PLANET registry.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite the high prevalence of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and available effective lipid-lowering therapy, most of the individuals with this disorder remain undiagnosed and undertreated. The aim of the PLANET registry was to assess the real-life attainment of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) therapeutic target level in patients with heterozygous FH, to characterize prescribed lipid-lowering therapy with assessment of its efficiency according to the attainment of the target LDL-C level, and to characterize cardiovascular events observed in this patient population again in relation to LDL-C target level attainment. METHODS: PLANET registry was designed as a non-interventional, retrospective, cross-sectional, multicentre disease registry for adult patients with heterozygous FH in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. RESULTS: Overall, 1755 patients were enrolled at 32 sites specialized in FH treatment. 15.4% of patients attained the target LDL-C value. The proportion of patients with LDL-C goal achievement increased to 17.3% in the subgroup of patients receiving high-intensity statin therapy (54.6% of study population). Out of 55 patients receiving inhibitors of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), 61.8% reached the LDL-C treatment goal. Of all cardiovascular events reported, 14.0% occurred in patients attaining the LDL-C goal, while it was 86.0% in the not-at-target group. It was documented (p=0.004) that the longer is the patient in care at the specialized FH centre, the higher is the probability that he/she will attain the target LDL-C level. CONCLUSIONS: Although target LDL-C level attainment remains relatively low, the likelihood of LDL-C goal attainment increases with duration of specialized care.