Finding Familial High Cholesterol Before You Know You Have It

FH, or familial hypercholesterolemia, is a genetic predisposition to very high levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) that may first manifest itself as a fatal heart attack at a premature age. There are therapies, statin-based, that reliably improve outcomes for patients with FH. But there is a big problem: 90 out of 100 patients who have FH do not know they have it or perhaps even what it is. Many physicians are equally in the dark about the disease and therefore do not screen patients for it. This talk will discuss the condition, its familial qualities, and new research to help diagnosis it before it does damage.

Speaker: Joshua W. Knowles, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine, (Cardiovascular Medicine) Stanford University Medical Center