Predictive value of remnant-like particle cholesterol as an indicator of coronary artery stenosis in patients with normal serum triglyceride levels.

OBJECTIVE: We designed the present study to evaluate the association of various lipid and fibrinolytic components with coronary artery stenosis with respect to the triglyceride (TG) level. METHODS: Levels of TG, remnant-like particle cholesterol (RLP-C), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), lipoprotein-(a), uric acid, blood glucose, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), t-PA inhibitor type 1, antithrombin III, and protein C were measured in 208 patients who underwent diagnostic coronary angiograms. PATIENTS: Of these 208 patients, 59 were hypertriglyceridemic (150 mg/dl or higher) and 149 were normotriglyceridemic. RESULTS: Both LDL-C and HDL-C showed significant differences between patients with and those without coronary artery stenosis in both hypertriglyceridemic and normotriglyceridemic patient subgroups. However, RLP-C showed a significant difference in the normotriglyceridemic patient subgroup (p=0.012) but not in the hypertriglyceridemic patient subgroup (p=0.736). CONCLUSION: Our current retrospective study disclosed that RLP-C levels are closely associated with coronary artery stenosis in patients with normal TG levels.

Familial occurrence of electrocardiographic abnormalities of the Brugada-type.

Electrocardiographic abnormalities were pointed out in a 51-year-old Japanese male whose major complaint was dizziness. His electrocardiogram showed a complete right bundle branch block, and a prolonged His bundle-ventricle (HV) interval of 100 msec. Two members of his family died of heart disease and 3 members, including a case of sudden death, presented an abnormal electrocardiogram of the Brugada-type with persistent ST segment elevation in the right precordial leads and right bundle branch block. The signal-averaged examination was made in the children of cases that died with the diagnosis of sudden death. Four cases showed a tendency of delay in the HV interval and a positive finding in the late potential. Further studies are necessary to clarify the relationship between electrocardiographic abnormalities of the Brugada-type and atrioventricular conduction disorder as well as to clarify the genetic basis of this disorder.

Association of remnant-like particle cholesterol with coronary artery disease in patients with normal total cholesterol levels.

BACKGROUND: Limited information is available as to whether there is a difference in the association of lipid and fibrinolytic variables with coronary artery disease according to the presence or absence of elevated serum total cholesterol. We examined the levels of various lipid and fibrinolytic variables including remnant-like particle cholesterol (RLP-C). RLP-C is a recently established simple assay method for the estimation of triglyceride-rich lipoprotein remnants. METHODS AND RESULTS: Levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride, lipoprotein(a), RLP-C, uric acid, blood glucose, tissue plasminogen activator, tissue plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, antithrombin III, and protein C were measured in 208 patients who underwent diagnostic coronary angiograms. Of these 208 patients, 57 were hypercholesterolemic (> or =220 mg/dL) and 151 were normocholesterolemic. HDL-C showed significant differences between patients with and those without angiographically determined coronary artery stenosis in both hypercholesterolemic and normocholesterolemic patients (P =.0025 and P =.0003, respectively). Both RLP-C and uric acid showed significant differences only in the normocholesterolemic subgroup (P =.0006 and P =.0060, respectively). This difference in uric acid was not significant by multivariable analysis. The ratio of RLP-C/HDL-C was demonstrated to be highly significantly (P <.0001) associated with coronary artery stenosis in patients with normal total cholesterol, whereas there was no statistically significant association in the hypercholesterolemic patient subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: Our current study disclosed that RLP-C levels are strongly associated with coronary artery disease, especially in patients with normal total cholesterol levels. Moreover, RLP-C/HDL-C ratio may be even more significantly associated with the presence of coronary artery stenosis in normocholesterolemic patients.