Does evolocumab treatment reduce carotid intima-media thickness in paediatric patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia?: Reply

Résumé fourni par la source

We would like to thank Christian Saleh for his thoughtful comments, and, to some extent, we agree with his assessment of the techniques used to measure carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). While cIMT has been widely considered to be a non-invasive biomarker of early sub-clinical atherosclerosis,1 we agree that cIMT per se, does have limitations, and may not be the optimal method for assessing the presence of sub-clinical atherosclerosis or the progression of atherosclerosis in a given individual. Measurement of carotid plaque burden, either as total plaque area or total plaque volume, as well as vessel wall volume are better indicators of sub-clinical atherosclerosis and better predictors of cardiovascular disease events than cIMT.2 However, for the patients in this primary prevention study, carotid plaque was not yet present. In childhood, measurement of wall thickness during follow-up of an individual may be unreliable; however, in cohorts this non-invasive technique is able to predict differences over time.3

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.