Hypertriglyceridemia: new approaches in management and treatment

Purpose of review Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), a form of dyslipidemia characterized by elevated plasma of triglycerides (TG), is associated with an increased risk for acute pancreatitis. Moreover, HTG has recently been shown to be linked to the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD); therefore, there is a great interest in better understanding the pathophysiology of HTG and improving its clinical management. In this review, we briefly describe TG metabolism, recent guidelines for the clinical management of HTG and provide an overview of the current and potential new therapies for HTG. Recent findings Screening patients for HTG is valuable for not only identifying patients with extreme TG elevations, who are at risk for pancreatitis, but also for managing ASCVD risk in patients with more moderate forms of HTG. Therefore, the most recent USA guidelines for cardiovascular diseases recommend using TG as a risk enhancer test, leading to a more aggressive treatment of patients with intermediate risk. Currently, there are several available approaches for reducing plasma TG, which include lifestyle changes, fibrates and omega-3 fatty acid treatment. The addition of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on top of statins has recently been shown to significantly reduce ASCVD events. Nevertheless, there is an unmet need for more effective treatment options. Several new therapies based on newly identified targets in TG metabolism, such as apolipoprotein C-III and a...
Source: Current Opinion in Lipidology - Category: Lipidology Tags: THERAPY AND CLINICAL TRIALS: Edited by Erik S.G. Stroes and Gerald F. Watts Source Type: research