Affiliations: [a] Centre for Arteriosclerosis and Metabolic Diseases, Semeiotica Medica, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, University of Naples, Naples,Italy | [b] Centro Trasfusionale, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, University of Naples, Naples, Italy
Note: [] Accepted by: Editor J.F. Stoltz.
Abstract: Cerebral blood flow was measured in four patients with Familial Hypercholesterolemia (three with homozygous and one with heterozygous genotype) before and long after Plasma-Exchange by isotopic technique. Plasma cholesterol dropped by 30% one day after Plasma-Exchange and was still reduced by 27% after one week. Plasma fibrinogen and globulin concentrations were decreased respectively by 36% and 26% after Plasma-Exchange,but returned to pretreatment values within few days. No change was observed in haematocrit. Mean Transit Time (M.T.T.) of both common and internal carotides improved respectively from 39.2±11 and 34.9±10 seconds (M±S.E.) to 33.8±8 (p<0.001) and to 29.5±5 (p<0.001) after Plasma-Exchange and were still 35.4±8 (p<0.02) and 30.3±8 (p <0.01) one week after Plasma-Exchange. It is concluded that Plasma-Exchange in patients with Familial Hypercholesterolemia beneficially improves cerebral blood flow.
