Hyperlipdemia an new treatments with statin medications - Essay Example

The use of statin medications in treatment of hyperlipidemia and new treatments The term hyperlipidemia is referred to the condition involving elevated lipid levels in the blood. It is the most common form of dyslipidemia. Hyperlipidemia has five types. Type I is the mild and is treated through diet control. For Type II to IV, statin is considered one of the known treatments in curing elevated levels of lipids in blood. This drug (Statin) is potent in reducing cholesterol. Statin is a generic name derived from 3-hydrooxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme-A reductase (Reamy, 2009).

The most significant trials for testing statin against curing Hyperlipidemia were conducted in 1990s. The treatments at West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS – 1995) included 6596 men. The studies proved hugely successful; the all-cause mortality was reduced by 22% (Reamy, 1995). Such results from WOSCOPS and other accompanying studies lead to the commonplace practice of using statin therapy for acute ischemia (Reamy, 1995). It has been proven that synthetic statins such as rosuvastatin and atorvastatin decrease LDL levels.

A study showed results of using intensive statin treatment on atherosclerotic plaque burden; the LDL cholesterol level dropped from “130mg/dl to post treatment level of 60.8mg/dl with 40mg/day rosuvastatin” (Reamy, 1995, p. 8).Other studies have also confirmed that statins are particularly useful for hypercholesterolemia in older patients. The curing action of statin was regardless of the previous levels of serum lipids, gender or age (Aronow, 2006). National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) III guidelines suggest that in high-risk patients low density lipoprotein (LDL) level of less than70mg/dl is a rational treatment strategy (Aronow, 2006).

This strategy has nothing to do with the age of the patient. In case of a high risk patient with hypertriglyceridemia (low serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol), a combination of nicotinic acid or fibrate with any drug that has the property of lowering LDL cholesterol can be effective (Aronow, 2006). Moderately high-risk patients can be effectively treated with serum LDL cholesterol but the amount should be decreased to less than 100 mg/dl and this level of LDL cholesterol needs to be dropped further (30% to 40%) in case the patient is under LDL cholesterol drug therapy (Aronow, 2006).

Despite remarkable lab results in treating hyperlipidemia there have been complications recorded with statin treatment.A study conducted in United Kingdom showed that hyperlipidemia patients treated with statin showed the likelihood of suffering from peripheral neuropathy 2.5 times more (Wong, 2006). Besides this complication, complaints of muscle pain are quite common among patients treated with statin. New TreatmentIt has been discovered that proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK 9) plays a major role in regulating cholesterol homeostasis.

PCSK 9 acts through degrading low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (Stawowy et al., 2013). The loss of ‘function PCSK 9’ modification results in low LDL cholesterol serum levels; an auto defense mechanism against cardiovascular diseases. On the other hand however, a gain in mutation function increases serum LDL cholesterol (Stawowy et al., 2013). Targeting PCSK 9 (based in vitro and in vivo data antibodies) has emerged as a new treatment for patients with cardiovascular diseases (Stawowy et al., 2013).This study is relatively new.

More research is required to fully test and establish the far reaching benefits of targeting PCSK 9. ReferencesAronow, W. S. (2006) Management of hyperlipidemia with statins in the older patient. Clin Interv Aging. 1(4). p. 433-438.Wong, B. A. (2006) Focus on statin research. NY: Nova Publishers.Reamy, B. V. (2009) Hyperlipidemia management for primary care: An evidence based approach. MD: Springer. Stawowy, P., Kelle, S. & Fleck, E. (2013). PCSK9 as new target in hyperlipidemia treatment.

Klinik für Innere. Available online http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23925411