Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

People who have high cholesterol may have another alternative to statin drugs – a method that literally sucks bad cholesterol right out of a patient’s blood, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The method uses a machine that removes blood from a patient through an IV, separates it into red blood cells and plasma, and returns the red blood cells back into the patient’s arm. The plasma is then infused with the blood thinner heparin, which binds to the low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad” cholesterol, and separates from the plasma. The LDL is then filtered out and the remaining plasma is put back into the patient’s vein. The process filters about half of the body’s total supply of blood, removing more than half of the LDL cholesterol. The process can be repeated every two weeks as LDL builds back up.

High cholesterol, especially high LDL levels, can clog arteries to the heart and brain, which can cause heart attacks and strokes.

Innovative uses for heparin present the need for more safeguards to protect recipients of pharmaceutical medications. Batches of heparin made by Baxter International were recalled earlier this year after numerous patients died or became ill after receiving injections of heparin. The drug was later found to have been contaminated at Baxter’s Chinese manufacturing plant.

The LDL-removing treatment, which has been available in the United States for about 10 years, is generally available only to individuals with LDL levels that stay above 300 even after drug therapy, diet and exercise. However, because of its high expense and low number of eligible patients, few machines are readily available.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Heparin recall, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.