Patient Pulse
At Patient Pulse, we aim to improve understanding of difficult topics in cardiology and medicine. Easy enough for the layman, but detailed enough for someone who wants to know more about their condition or that of a loved one. Also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and most other services. Subscribe to have new podcasts sent directly to your player.
Patient Pulse
Cholesterol, LDL, Apo B and Lp(a)
Understanding cholesterol is an important part of understanding your risk of heart disease and stroke. Your total cholesterol is made up of LDL (The bad cholesterol), HDL (the good cholesterol) and Triglycerides (which are also bad). Since it is made up of both bad and good parts, total cholesterol can be misleading. In this episode we introduce, Non-HDL cholesterol and Apolipoprotein B as better measures of cardiac risk since they are the bad things we want to avoid. We also discuss, Lipoprotein a or Lp(a) as a very important, but not usually measured, factor that is found in many people with family histories of heart disease.