Extremely severe aortic stenosis developed in a young female patient with underdiagnosis of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia: An 8-year follow-up

Case Report: Cardiac Surgery and Combined Lipid-Lowering Drug Therapy for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) is a rare, autosomal dominant, hereditary, metabolic disease. HoFH patients exhibit severe coronary stenosis and valvular disease, which may result in sudden death, even during adolescence. The challenges faced during surgery and the poor curative effect of conventional lipid-lowering therapy create a treatment bottleneck. We report a rare case of HoFH in a 12-years-old boy with acute myocardial infarction, severe mitral insufficiency, and moderate aortic insufficiency. Coronary artery bypass grafting and valvuloplasty resulted in improved heart function. Postoperative combined lipid-lowering drug therapy was able to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level from 15.37 mm/L to 6.41 mmol/L. Thus, the combination of medical and surgical treatment was considered effective and can be used to inform treatment guidelines for HoFH with severe complications.

Familial hypercholesterolemia in China half a century: A review of published literature

AIMS

To investigate the status of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) research and the characteristics of patients with FH in China.

METHODS

Published papers in Chinese or English language from PubMed, SinoMed and CNKI databases from 1971 to March 2018 were searched using 'Familial hypercholesterolemia', 'Chinese' and 'Han' as keywords. A systematic review of studies on familial hypercholesterolemia was then conducted.

RESULTS

A total of 391 articles were found, in which 22% were in English and 78% were in Chinese; approximately 43% are case reports and 34% are genetic reports according to the study type; 52% discussed the status of the disease and 11% investigated the subclinical status according to the study content. Furthermore, 96% of the articles were published by tertiary hospitals and 46% were conducted by cardiologists. The first expert consensus was issued in February 2018. Of the 163 case reports published before 2018, 48.7% used the Chinese FH clinical diagnostic criteria and 34.4% did not clearly indicate the diagnostic criteria. The incidence rates of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and apolipoprotein B (APOB) mutations were 82% and 9%, and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) mutations were rare in Chinese patients with FH. However, the data on lipid-lowering treatment rates, compliance rates and cardiovascular events in FH remain insufficient.

CONCLUSIONS

Large-scale epidemiological investigation of FH has not been demonstrated, the recognition of FH remains rudimentary, and the guidelines are incomplete in China. The diagnosis and management of Chinese FH needs to be improved.