12 Comments
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Roger Royse's avatar

Thanks for highlighting this marker. I have been monitoring mine for a while but did not know until now that there are interventions.

Gary Clark's avatar

So Roger, if you've been monitoring yours for a while, how is it paid for? Does your insurance cover it? If so, did you have to get any special permission from your PCP or cardiologist?

Thank you!

Gary

Roger Royse's avatar

Protean Diagnostics orders a Liquid Maps test for me every six to 12 months in order to monitor for cancer recurrence and while no cancer mutations have shown up the test fins incidental noise level TET2 mutations consistent with CHIP or CCUS. It is not what I am looking for but it comes up in the report so I can keep an eye on it and be reminded not to become complacent and abandon the lifestyle changes that helped me beat pancreatic cancer (so far, anyway). Despite that this test is ordered by a doctor and is pretty important, I have not been successful at getting my insurance company to pay for it.

Ananisapta's avatar

WRT "low-dose colchicine" what sort of dose are we talking about? Are there non-prescription alternatives? Should this be recommended for everybody until the CHIP test becomes cheaper?

Ananisapta's avatar

Thanks, Eric!

Ananisapta's avatar

When you can find the time, I would appreciate further discussion of ASCVD risk as it relates to elevated blood glucose INDEPENDENT of lipid levels. How much ASCVD progression do we see in Type II diabetics whose blood sugars are normal? Or, for that matter, in non-diabetic folks with high LDL, etc.? Or, what is the risk for those with low LDL and elevated sugars? Have you written this up already?

Ananisapta's avatar

OK, I asked Dr Google and found this article from the Cleveland Clinic that answered most of my questions: https://www.ccjm.org/content/92/10/609

Ruth L Light MD's avatar

I don't know what "low dose colchicine" is, but I've never had a patient who voluntarily took colchicine! Not a first-line anti-inflammatory... last resort for severe, excruciating gout attacks..

RLL

tim grance's avatar

There is a certain oversimplification of just looking at LDL AND HDL. As a stroke survivor there s extra importance to subtle findings in cholesterol

subtypes: even with excellent standard cholesterol markers (like LDL and non-HDL

cholesterol), advanced markers such as LDL Pattern B, low LDL peak size, and

reduced HDL Large suggest lingering artery risk, especially when combined with

personal cardiovascular history