Do these new cholesterol medicines work and are they safe for heart transplant patients?
PCSK9 inhibitors safely and effectively lower LDL after heart transplantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some heart transplant patients can't take common cholesterol pills called statins. This study looked at whether a newer type of medicine, called PCSK9 inhibitors, can help lower bad cholesterol in these patients.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 541 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some heart transplant patients can't take common cholesterol pills called statins. This study looked at whether a newer type of medicine, called PCSK9 inhibitors, can help lower bad cholesterol in these patients.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 541 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Publication
Authors
Jennings DL, Sultan L, Mingov J, Choe J, Latif F, Restaino S, Clerkin K, Habal MV, Colombo PC, Yuzefpulskaya M, Sayer G, Uriel N, Baker WL
Related Content
Claims (6)
Adding PCSK9 drugs to cholesterol-lowering statins can slash bad cholesterol by as much as 81% in people with high cholesterol.
People who got a new heart and took a drug called a PCSK9 inhibitor didn’t have serious side effects from the medicine — in fact, none of the 97 patients studied had problems caused by the drug over nearly two years.
For people who've had a heart transplant and can't take cholesterol pills like statins, a newer medicine called a PCSK9 inhibitor might help lower their bad cholesterol by about 83 points over a year.
Heart transplant patients taking PCSK9 inhibitor drugs don’t seem to develop harmful immune reactions to their new heart in the first month, which means their body isn’t showing early signs of rejecting it.
If you've had a heart transplant and start taking a PCSK9 inhibitor for cholesterol, it probably won't mess with your anti-rejection medication levels.