Patient At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Becomes First In California To Have “Bad” Cholesterol Removed From Blood Through Innovative Procedure

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is the first site in California to offer the procedure that has been developed for patients who have dangerously high levels of LDL cholesterol that do not respond to diet and drug treatment. Patients who need this therapy have genetic abnormalities that cause their “bad” cholesterol (also called LDL cholesterol) to be many times that of normal patients. Some of these patients develop heart disease so early that they may have a heart attack or need heart surgery before the age of 10.

After years of testing in the United States and other countries, LDL apheresis has been found to dramatically reduce levels of LDL – the type of cholesterol that increases the risk of heart disease.

“The concept has existed for 20 years or so but it has become more effective and popular now because of computers and miniaturization,” said Timothy A. Denton, M.D., an attending cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai and Medical Director of the LDL-Apheresis Program. “With this procedure we can reduce LDL levels very effectively.”

During treatment, blood is continuously removed from a patient’s vein and passed through a machine that separates red blood cells from plasma. The blood cells are returned immediately to the bloodstream through a different vein while the plasma enters a column that captures most of the LDL. The plasma is then returned to the patient without the “bad” cholesterol but with the “good” cholesterol and other vital chemicals intact.

“The procedure takes about two to four hours and must be repeated every one to three weeks, depending on the LDL level”, says Dennis Goldfinger, M.D., Director of the Cedars-Sinai Transfusion Center, where the procedure is performed.