MRI can help determine effectiveness of cholesterol-lowering drugs
In order to control the risk for cardiovascular disease, American heart patients can buy Canadian Lipitor to help keep their cholesterol levels in check.
In order to control the risk for cardiovascular disease, American heart patients can buy Canadian Lipitor to help keep their cholesterol levels in check. Such drugs control the buildup of plaques in the coronary arteries, which would otherwise lead to events such as heart attacks or strokes. The effectiveness of these cholesterol-lowering drugs could be assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging.
Currently, the size of cholesterol plaques is measured using other imaging techniques such as ultrasound and angiograms. MRI, which uses magnetic fields and radio waves to examine the water and magnetic contents of different structures, could build a clearer picture for doctors, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
For the current study, researchers at the University of Washington enrolled 120 patients assigned to take one of three cholesterol-lowering regimens. The subjects were monitored over three years through the use of MRI scans on the carotid artery in the neck, which is easier to image with MRI because it is closer to the skin and is just as indicative of arterial plaque as the coronary arteries.
Results showed that drugs to control cholesterol help reduce the size of arterial plaque, demonstrating that MRI could be an effective way to assess how well such therapies work. However, further studies will be needed to verify its usefulness, the researchers said.
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