Blood lipid testing

Monday, June 20, 2011

Advanced blood lipid testing has been pioneered by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley and its commercial arm, the Berkeley Heart lab. Dr Robert Superior, medical director of the lab, has done an outstanding job of educating doctors in the use of advanced blood testing for treating patients. When the cholesterol sub – classes are taken along with other advanced tests, including LP (a), homocysteine, and others, we can explain over 90 percent of the heart disease we see. We can also test for high sensitivity to C-reactive protein – CRP – a market for inflammation of the blood vessel lining. Dr Paul Ridker, of Harvard, did the ground breaking research proving that inflammation of the arteries can play a big role in arteriosclerosis and heart attacks. Measuring this inflammation can predict who is a candidate for a heart attack, even in patients with normal or low cholesterol. It’s interesting to note that people with prediabetes or diabetes often have normal cholesterols but high CRPs.