High levels of serum lipoprotein(a) in patients with ischemic heart disease with normal coronary angiogram and thromboangiitis obliterans

Abstract To determine whether lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) contributes to the acceleration of cardiovascular diseases without atherosclerotic lesion, we have measured serum Lp(a) level in male subjects aged 40–69 years with thromboangiitis obliterans ( n = 40) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) with normal coronary angiogram ( n = 35) in addition to subjects with arteriosclerosis obliterans ( n = 123) and IHD with atherosclerotic coronary lesion ( n = 203). Cases who had no IHD, arteriosclerosis obliterans or thromboangiitis obliterans were selected as a control group ( n = 316). Subjects without any diseases or abnormal findings in physical examination and laboratory data were selected from the control group as the healthy control group ( n =156). The Lp(a) levels of arteriosclerosis obliterans and IHD with atherosclerotic coronary lesion were significantly higher (17.0 mg/dl and 13.1 mg/dl; median) than those of control and healthy control groups (9.9 mg/dl and 9.4 mg/dl, respectively) ( P P P