This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kolovou, G. Articles by Cokkinos, D. V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kolovou, G. Articles by Cokkinos, D. V. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Regression of Achilles Tendon Xanthomas Evaluated by CT Scan After Hypolipidemic Treatment with Simvastatin

A Case Report

1st Cardiology Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece, g_kolovou{at}yahoo.co.uk

Deliana Daskalova, MD

1st Cardiology Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece

Irene Mastorakou, MD

Radiology Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece

Katherine Anagnostopoulou, MSc

1st Cardiology Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece

Dennis V. Cokkinos, MD

1st Cardiology Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a relatively common autosomal monogenic disease with dominant inheritance and threefold to fourfold increase in relative risk of cardiovascular death in untreated patients. For a "definitive" clinical diagnosis of FH the Simon Broome Register proposes the presence of tendon xanthomas as a key feature. However, detection of tendon xanthomas by physical examination is subjective and difficult to use for follow-up purposes. Several instrumental methods have been reported to be more sensitive than physical examination for the evaluation of xanthomas. The present case illustrates the usefulness of computed tomography (CT) to detect xanthomas in the Achilles tendons (XAT) and their regression in response to hypolipidemic drug treatment in a heterozygous FH patient. As XAT are atherosclerotic plaque-like depositions of lipids it is likely that their progression or regression follows the behavior of vascular atherosclerotic lesions.

Angiology, Vol. 55, No. 3, 335-339 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/000331970405500314


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. D. Kolovou, G. V.Z. Dedoussis, K. K. Anagnostopoulou, G. Ch. Hatzigeorgiou, K. D. Salpea, D. M. Choumerianou, S. Rammos, D. P. Mikhailidis, and D. V. Cokkinos Management of a Patient With a Null Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor Mutation: A Case Report Angiology, January 1, 2007; 57(6): 729 - 732. [Abstract] [PDF]