Clinical evaluation of probucol in hypercholesterolemia: Individual lipoprotein responses and inhibitory effect on carotid atherosclerosis progression

Probucol treatment has been evaluated in 140 patients with hypercholesterolemia attending a single Lipid Clinic, in an attempt to identify the relations between lipid/lipoprotein responses and patient characteristics. Probucol was administered as a single drug at the standard dose (0.5 g tablets b.i.d.) for at least 6 months. One-hundred (71%) patients displayed a reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), which was significantly correlated with the baseline LDL-C level (r = 0.64; p < 0.0001). Most of the patients (90%) also responded with a reduction of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C); the HDL-C reduction was also directly related to baseline HDL cholesterolemia (r = 0.67, p < 0.0001). A highly significant correlation was found between the individual LDL-C and HDL-C responses. Eleven patients who continued with probucol treatment had a B-mode ultrasonographic investigation performed at baseline and after 24 months. No changes in carotid mean and maximal intimal-medial thickness were recorded, in contrast to an increase (i.e., indicative of atherosclerosis progression) in matched patients with hypercholesterolemia receiving other lipid-lowering regimens. Our report underlines that probucol can still provide a valuable option for the treatment for hypercholesterolemia, being particularly effective in patients with a combined increase of LDL-C and HDL-C levels.