The impact of ezetimibe and high-dose of statin treatment on LDL levels in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.

We evaluated the efficacy and the safety of combining high doses of statins and ezetimibe in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (hFH) patients. Seventy patients with hFH, received 10 mg of ezetimibe, in addition to their current statin therapy and were followed up for twelve months. The co-administration of statins and ezetimibe improved total cholesterol (p<0.05), LDL-c(p<0.05), triglycerides (p<0.05) and apolipoprotein-B (p<0.05) in comparison to statin monotherapy. There were no changes in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), apolipoprotein-A, lipoprotein (a), fibrinogen and C-reactive protein (CPR). In conclusion the combination of 10 mg of ezetimibe with high dose statin therapy is effective in hFH, offering a further reduction of LDL-c throughout the 12 months of follow up.