CLINICAL STUDY REGARDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIPOPROTEIN (a) AND C REACTIVE PROTEIN SERUM LEVELS IN PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL DISEASE

The ethiopatogenic role of dyslipidemia in atherosclerosis nowadays is widely accepted. Lipoprotein (a) (Lp (a)), a modified LDL particle which presents a structurally homologue protein to plasminogen - apolipoprotein (a)- shows elevated levels in myocardial infarction and stroke patients. It has been described that Lp (a) is cross-linked covalently to fibrinogen and thus influences the permeability of intravascular thrombi. We have performed a cross-sectional case-control study on 65 patients suffering of peripheral arterial disease, 15 myocardial interaction patients and 41 healthy controls, evaluating Lp (a) in serum. We have established correlations of Lp (a) with other biological, functional and morphological parameters. Lp(a) was significantly higher in both patient groups than in controls and showed a weak correlation with serum CRP. Surprisingly, Lp (a) presented significantly lower values in the patient group suffering of C, C critical ischaemia. We could not state any correlation between Lp (a), ankle-brachial pressure index and carotid intima-media thickness.