Xeroradiographic determination of Achilles tendon thickness in familial hypercholesterolemia confirmed by tissue cultures.

Twenty-three patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FHC) confirmed by tissue cultures of skin fibroblasts (2 homozygotes, 21 heterozygotes) and 3 patients with sporadic hypercholesterolemia were evaluated for Achilles tendon (AT) thickness by xeroradiography. Both homozygotes had thick ATs and coronary heart disease (CHD), 20 heterozygotes had thick ATs, but only 8 of them had CHD. One heterozygote had a small AT value, but CHD for a long time. The 3 patients with sporadic hypercholesterolemia, one with CHD, had small AT. There was no correlation between serum cholesterol concentration and AT thickness, between age and AT thickness, nor between AT thickness and CHD.