COMPARISON OF TOTAL CHOLESTEROL LEVELS IN BLOOD SERUM WITH LIPID CONCENTRATIONS IN HUMAN CORONARY ARTERIES: (A SECOND INTERIM REPORT)

Abstract

This report, which is concerned with only one facet of the serum lipid/atherosclerosis problem, gives the results of a comparison of the levels of total serum cholesterol, determined serially during life in 88 patients, with the concentrations of total lipid extracted from large segments of the coronary arteries of the same patients after death and autopsy. No significant relationships have been encountered in individuals between 60 and 89 years of age whether the comparisons were made on the entire series of cases or on cases in the same age group at the time of death. The data in younger individuals were inadequate for statistical analysis. Terminal loss of weight from wasting disease processes had no significant relationship to the concentration of lipid in the coronary arteries of the entire series of cases, or of cases in the same age group. In general, the ante-mortem serum cholesterol levels of the 88 patients were found to be remarkably constant over periods of as long as four years.