Familial hypercholesterolemia
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Familial hypercholesterolemia
Genetics
Genetic disorders
Achondroplasia
Alagille syndrome (NORD)
Familial adenomatous polyposis
Familial hypercholesterolemia
Hereditary spherocytosis
Huntington disease
Li-Fraumeni syndrome
Marfan syndrome
Multiple endocrine neoplasia
Myotonic dystrophy
Neurofibromatosis
Polycystic kidney disease
Treacher Collins syndrome
Tuberous sclerosis
von Hippel-Lindau disease
Albinism
Alpha-thalassemia
Beta-thalassemia
Cystic fibrosis
Friedreich ataxia
Gaucher disease (NORD)
Glycogen storage disease type I
Glycogen storage disease type II (NORD)
Glycogen storage disease type III
Glycogen storage disease type IV
Glycogen storage disease type V
Hemochromatosis
Krabbe disease
Leukodystrophy
Mucopolysaccharide storage disease type 1 (Hurler syndrome) (NORD)
Niemann-Pick disease type C
Niemann-Pick disease types A and B (NORD)
Phenylketonuria (NORD)
Polycystic kidney disease
Primary ciliary dyskinesia
Sickle cell disease (NORD)
Tay-Sachs disease (NORD)
Wilson disease
Cri du chat syndrome
Williams syndrome
Angelman syndrome
Prader-Willi syndrome
Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome
Mitochondrial myopathy
Klinefelter syndrome
Turner syndrome
Fragile X syndrome
Friedreich ataxia
Huntington disease
Myotonic dystrophy
Down syndrome (Trisomy 21)
Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18)
Patau syndrome (Trisomy 13)
Alport syndrome
Fragile X syndrome
Fabry disease (NORD)
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency
Hemophilia
Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
Mucopolysaccharide storage disease type 2 (Hunter syndrome) (NORD)
Muscular dystrophy
Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency
Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
X-linked agammaglobulinemia
Autosomal trisomies: Pathology review
Miscellaneous genetic disorders: Pathology review
Muscular dystrophies and mitochondrial myopathies: Pathology review
Assessments
Familial hypercholesterolemia
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Familial hypercholesterolemia
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USMLE® Step 1 style questions USMLE
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Reproduced from: Wikimedia Commons
Which of the following conditions has the same inheritance pattern as this patient’s condition?
External References
First Aid
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Corneal arcus
familial hypercholesterolemia p. 92
Familial hypercholesterolemia p. 58, 92
presentation p. 714
Tendinous xanthomas p. 307
familial hypercholesterolemia p. 92
Transcript
Content Reviewers
With familial hypercholesterolemia, familial means the disease runs in families, so it has a genetic predisposition, hyper means excess and lastly cholesterolemia refers to the level of cholesterol in the blood.
So, familial hypercholesterolemia is a genetic disorder associated with high levels of cholesterol in the blood.
Now, cholesterol is a lipid molecule, so a type of fat, that normally helps maintain the structure of cell membranes, and is a precursor to steroid hormones, bile acids, and vitamin D.
There are two main types of cholesterol: LDL or Low Density Lipoprotein which is sometimes called “bad cholesterol,” nad HDL or High Density Lipoprotein which is sometimes called “good cholesterol.”
But good and bad is overly simplistic, and like all things - the subtleties matter.
LDL is produced by the liver and it carries cholesterol out to the rest of the body.
If all of the cholesterol from LDL is not completely distributed to the peripheral cells, then HDL brings some of that cholesterol back from the peripheral tissues and sends it to the liver.
Now, what makes LDL bad and HDL good is that, whenever there’s a high blood concentration of LDL, the LDL can be ingested by macrophages that sit along vessel walls, forming atherosclerotic plaques.
Over decades, large atherosclerotic plaques can lead to myocardial infarctions, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease.
That’s why we want to keep LDL blood levels under control.
On the other hand, HDL can remove cholesterol from cells and that can help reverse the process of atherosclerosis.
Summary
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant condition in which there are abnormally high levels of LDL cholesterol in the blood. The condition increases a person's risk for heart disease and other serious health problems. FH is caused by defects in one of several genes that control the amount of cholesterol in the blood. People with FH can present with xanthomas (fats build up under the skin), xanthelasma (fats build up in the eyelids), fatty liver, and pancreatitis.
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