Case Study – Atherosclorosis Francois was shoveling some lightsnow off of the driveway when he suddenly experienced a severechest pain. He felt a weight on his chest and was having troublebreathing. A stab of pain also radiated across the left side of hisneck and down his left arm. His wife called 911 and an ambulancepicked him up and brought him to the local hospital. The residenttold him that he was suffering from angina pectoris. As he laythere resting, the pain subsided and he began paying attention asthe doctor asked him some questions and did a few basicmeasurements. He was 52 years old, 5’10†tall and weighed 210 lbs.His girth at the waist was 42 inches. An MRI of his neck revealedartherosclerotic plaque buildup in his carotid arteries. He toldthe doctor that he smoked about 3 packs of cigarettes per week, didnot drink alcohol and had a relatively sedentary lifestyle. Theytook a blood sample and did a variety of tests.
The results follow: Low density lipoprotein was 210mg/dl
Triglycerides were 195mg/dl
High density lipoprotein was 28mg/dl
Creatine kinase was elevated The doctor set him home the nextday with a prescription for a statin drug and instructions to getregular, moderate exercise and carefully monitor his diet. He wastold to try to get his BMI down to 25 and his girth to 36â€.
2. What is Francois’ BMI? What does the combination of BMI andwaist girth tell you about his risk factors for cardiovasculardisease?
3. What do the LDL, triglyceride and HDL measurements tell youabout his risk factors? What other risk factors does he have?
4. What does the elevated CPK mean? How did this enzyme get intohis plasma?
5. What are statins and how do they work?
