Management of hypercholesteremia by extracorporeal immune adsorption

: Reduction of plasma cholesterol by extracorporeal immune elimination of low density lipoproteins (LDL) as an efficient approach to the treatment of familial hypercholesterolemia is described. LDL was removed from the plasma by immune adsorption on Sepharose-bound sheep antibodies against apo B, the protein fraction of LDL. To prevent the possibility of sensitization by the sheep antibodies, F(ab')2 fragments were used and the antibody containing Sepharose was underlaid by LDL containing Sepharose. Within a treatment time of 4 1/2-5 hours a reduction of the total plasma cholesterol by 70-80% was obtained. The mean reduction of the cholesterol concentration was more than 40% with a 14-day interval between two treatments. The concentration of other plasma proteins was not affected. The 11 treatments achieved so far were well tolerated and no side effects could be observed.