RESUMO
In the work presented here, the efficiency of the following techniques was determined in the period 1983-1988 with respect to the elimination of lipids, lipoproteins and apoproteins in patients with severe hypercholesterolemia; firstly with plasmapheresis, then with membrane-filtration apheresis, and recently with dextran sulfate adsorption apheresis. Furthermore, the loss resulting from removal by apheresis in lipids, lipoproteins and apoproteins was calculated by means of a single-compartment model from pool size and recovery rates. It could be shown that the individual lipids (TG, CH, LDL-CH, P) in the serum as well as in the lipoprotein fractions (VLDL, LDL, HDL) attained new steady states at differing rates, the recovery times for cholesterol being the longest, those of HDL-CH and apoproteins AI, AII, CII, CIII and E the shortest. The absolute replacement in "mg/kg BW/d" was 35 for beta-lipoprotein, 18-22 for total-CH, 13-17 for LDL-CH, 10-12 for apoprotein B; for the antiatherogenic lipids HDL-CH it was 1.72-2.7 mg/kg BW/d; for alpha-lipoprotein 14-23 mg/kg BW/d; for apoprotein HDL 16-19 mg/kg BW/d. The recovery rates for anti- and atherogenic lipids for women with heterozygous FH were higher than for men with FH. Rates of 0.235; 0.510 and 0.183 mg/kg BW/d were measured for CII, CIII and apoprotein E respectively. Dextran sulphate adsorption apheresis (Kaneka) is a more specific method for eliminating LDL-CH and apoprotein B than plasmapheresis and membrane filtration apheresis. The amounts removed in LDL and apo B with the Kaneka technique are largely identical with those taken out by membrane filtration. Larger relative and absolute recovery rates for LDL-CH, total-CH and apo B were found after Kaneka's DSA-apheresis, which may be explained by the more specific removal in LDL-CH and apo B.