The sections were taken directly from the area believed to have caused the blockage responsible for the chest pain. They gave the samples a score according to ox-LDL levels at that site. They found that individuals with unstable angina had an average ox-LDL score of 0.49 and those with stable angina had an average score of 0.07. Sotirios Tsimikas, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, division of cardiology, University of California at San Diego, says this research is unique because it looks at different groups of patients using the same LDL measurements. The sicker the patient, the higher the levels of circulating oxidized LDL, indicating that it is a marker of atherosclerotic plaques.
Atherosclerosis is a narrowing of the arteries caused by plaques on the inner lining.
The plaques consist of LDL, decaying muscle cells, fibrous tissue, clumps of blood platelets and cholesterol. In an editorial accompanying the study, Tsimikas and Joseph Witztum, M.D., professor of medicine and director of endocrinology and metabolism at UCSD, suggest the Osaka study is another step forward that may lead to the development of a new diagnostic test to assess the risk of heart attack and discriminate between patients at risk. At present, they say the test probably cannot be applied outside the research setting. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit American Heart Association as the original source.