The vascular pathology of familial hypercholesterolemia

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia is so rare there is a dearth of illustrated detail of the vascular pathology. Autopsy material from an 11 year old homozygote was used to confirm and illustrate essential pathological differences between the arterial lesions and conventional atherosclerosis. These previously overlooked differences provide crucial data in the current controversy over the role of cholesterol in atherogenesis.