Ezetimibe in clinical practice

Abstract

Cholesterol hypothesis plays an important role in understanding of atherosclerotic process. Now it is proved that increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels increase risk of coronary artery disease. And there is a direct connection between a decrease of total cholesterol and LDL-C levels and a decrease of cardiovascular risk. Nowadays statins are the medications of choice for hyperlipidemia treatment. However a monotherapy with statin sometimes is not enough for reaching target cholesterol goals, in this case a combination of hypolipidemic medications can be used. A combination of statin with ezetimibe can be recommended as highly effective in achieving cholesterol targets by having an impact on both mechanisms which determine cholesterol level in the human blood (intestine absorption and hepatic synthesis). The presence of pleiotropic effects of ezetimibe and its ability to influence on patients’ prognosis are still unknown and are the subjects of investigation. These data will help to determine the place of ezetimibe in clinical practice.