eMedicineLive

It may soon be possible to measure the amount of cholesterol present inside the plaques which clog the arteries, with the help of MRIs. This way, cardiologists will be able to ascertain the efficacy of cholesterol reducing drugs. Deposition of cholesterol inside the arteries leads to the formation of plaques. These plaques obstruct the normal flow of blood through the blood vessels and may result in heart attacks, strokes and other diseases of the cardiovascular system. However, until now cardiologists were only able to monitor the size of plaques with the help of different imaging techniques, such as angiograms and ultrasounds. But soon, MRI scans may be used to monitor the actual amount of cholesterol present inside these plaques. 

 

The study to understand the role of MRI scans in monitoring cholesterol drugs, was led by Loyola University Health System cardiologist Binh An P. Phan. The study, which has been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging, is an MRI study conducted on patients who had recently started taking medicines for cholesterol control. The study was done on 120 patients diagnosed with high cholesterol in their blood. They were randomly divided into three groups and put on either Lipitor, or Lipitor along with extended release niacin, or Lipitor along with extended release niacin and colesevelam.  The patients took the medicines for three years and were asked to undergo an MRI scan at the end of three years.

 

 It was noticed that the 33 patients who had plaques in their carotid arteries at the start of the study, had undergone significant reduction in the amount of cholesterol present in the plaques. The cholesterol reduced from 60.4 mm³ to 37.4 mm³. The percentage of the plaque volume which contained cholesterol also underwent a decrease from 14.2% to 7.4%. The study was helpful in establishing the fact that the cholesterol reducing medicines reduce the amount of cholesterol present in the plaques and thereby, help in the reduction in the size of plaque as well.

 

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