Two patients with familial hypercholesterolemia who were successfully weaned from low-density lipoprotein apheresis after treatment with evolocumab

Abstract

Two elderly patients (a 76-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman), who had been previously diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia (at 58 and 48 years of age, respectively) underwent long-term treatment with oral therapy and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis. As their LDL cholesterol levels remained high (>150 mg/dL and >120 mg/dL, respectively) and their familial hypercholesterolemia was complicated with angina pectoris, we added evolocumab to their prescription. Thereafter, their LDL cholesterol levels decreased rapidly, and the patients were successfully weaned from LDL apheresis. Evolocumab therapy should thus be considered when LDL apheresis cannot achieve the target LDL cholesterol levels, though the prognosis of such treatment remains unclear.