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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Lipids in Cardiovascular Disease
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1454638

The Effectiveness of Liver Transplantation in Reducing Lipid Levels in Saudi Children with Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Provisionally accepted
Abdullah Al-Ashwal Abdullah Al-Ashwal 1*Salman Al-Mansour Salman Al-Mansour 2Mohammed Al-Shagrani Mohammed Al-Shagrani 1Talal Al Goufi Talal Al Goufi 1Dieter Broering Dieter Broering 1Raghad Alhuthil Raghad Alhuthil 1
  • 1 King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The lipid profiles of patients aged <15 years who have been diagnosed with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (Riyadh) were examined. Methods: The total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels of 17 patients were measured on initial presentation and compared with the levels measured after pharmacological treatment and then again after liver transplantation. Results: At the end of the pharmacological treatment, the total cholesterol levels decreased by an average of 3.79 mmol/L (reduced by 15.40%) (P<0.001), and LDL-C levels decreased on average by 2.73 mmol/L (reduced by 13.46%) (P=0.014). However, in two patients, LDL-C levels increased by 5.42% and 9.03% after pharmacological treatment. Conversely, the lipid values measured after liver transplantation decreased significantly nearly to within normal and borderline limits. The posttransplant total cholesterol and LDL-C levels declined by a mean of 19.96 mmol/L (reduced by 81.04%) and 17.47 mmol/L (reduced by 84.27%), respectively (P<0.001 for both). Discussion: These findings suggest that liver transplantation provides a more effective means to reduce elevated total cholesterol and LDL-C levels in patients with HoFH. Although liver transplantation is considered a better treatment for FHoH, risks, complications, and donor organ shortage may present problems.

    Keywords: homozygous, Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Cholesterol, LDL-C, liver transplant

    Received: 07 Jul 2024; Accepted: 28 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Al-Ashwal, Al-Mansour, Al-Shagrani, Al Goufi, Broering and Alhuthil. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Abdullah Al-Ashwal, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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