From the LipidSpin Editor: The Spectrum of Lipidology Broad and Bright

When I entered medical school at the University of Washington in Seattle quite a few years ago, I soon came to the realization that cardiovascular disease was one of my primary areas of academic interest.

Little did I know however, that I would come to love a specialty that did not even exist at the time – clinical lipidology. As a medical student, amongst many legendary professors, I had the good fortune to have Drs. John Brunzell and William Hazzard as my teachers who lit my first sparks of interest in how lipoproteins contributed to the development of the atherosclerotic plaque. The science of lipid metabolism was becoming fairly well understood, but the treatment options were limited to bile acid resins, early fibrates and strict dietary regimens. Even with those interventions it was not completely clear that lowering cholesterol would make a difference in outcomes. Then the Framingham Heart Study and many subsequent epidemiologic studies have clearly demonstrated the correlation between lipoproteins and cardiovascular disease. And as they say, “the rest is history” with the cascading development of science and technology pertinent to lipoprotein science and to the management of patients with dyslipidemias.

Except that the “history” is constantly growing and changing. This Potpourri edition of LipidSpin lets us focus on the broad diversity of clinical lipidology. These articles demonstrate the spectrum of how our specialty impacts many different aspects of not only clinical medicine but also an anthropological view of human disease susceptibility.

The National Lipid Association defines clinical lipidology as a “multidisciplinary branch of medicine focusing on lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and their associated disorders.”

We are called upon as lipidologists to identify underlying disease process in patients with lipoprotein abnormalities, determine if the disorder is primary or secondary, and then to establish risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular events. Finally, we are asked from that multidisciplinary standpoint to assess the best opportunities for treatment and risk reduction with lifestyle change and appropriate pharmacotherapy.

At times, in that process, we identify underlying otherwise undiagnosed medical problems, such as renal disease, diabetes, hypothyroidism, liver disease or ingested substances. In other situations, we are an integral part of the clinical team managing potential drug-drug interactions, identifying what is cause and what is effect when patients are being treated for a myriad of other serious conditions such as malignancies. So differently from when I was a medical student in Seattle, we have potent treatment options available to us to reduce the impact of lipoprotein-related plaque development, and thus reduce risk of cardiovascular events. With each passing year we have greater ability to make a difference in so many aspects of the health of the population for whom we are caring, and the society in which we live.

The spectrum of lipidology is very broad and very bright, and we hope you find this edition of the LipidSpin enlightening!