Docs already routinely test for one inflammation-producing protein, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.
In turn, that can cut C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation, by up to 40%.
He said its action on C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, was particularly interesting.
He started tracking his own levels of C-reactive protein, which is correlated with inflammation.
When combined with Zocor in Vytorin, Zetia does lower C-reactive protein (CRP), which doctors use to try and measure artery inflammation.
C-reactive protein, a measure of artery inflammation, was lowered about twice as much in the Lipitor studies than in A to Z.
People with very high C-reactive protein seem to get the most benefit.
C-reactive protein was first discovered in the 1930s as a protein the body made in response to a sugar (the C polysaccharide) made by bacteria.
They know that heart disease, for example, tends to occur in patients with an overabundance of any of these things: low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, C-reactive protein or homocysteine.
And he says imaging studies like ENHANCE have not been proven to be any more meaningful that reductions in LDL or C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation.
After the first two to three weeks of treatment, your doctor may gradually decrease your dosage depending on your symptoms and the results of sed rate and C-reactive protein tests.
To reach this goal Harvard's Ridker is leading a 15, 000-patient trial testing whether AstraZeneca's statin drug, Crestor, can prevent heart attacks in patients with normal cholesterol levels but high C-reactive protein levels.
If the FDA adopts the panel's recommendation -- the agency isn't required to do so, but typically does in such cases -- it would mark the first time that a statin was approved for heart-disease-free people with healthy cholesterol levels but other risk factors, including high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation.
CNN: FDA considers statin use for those with normal cholesterol
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