[Lipid level in sudden cardiac death (a biochemical and morphological study)]

The study covered 114 men dying suddenly of coronary heart disease (CHD). Hypercholesterinemia was found in 43% of the cases, lowered cholesterol, high density lipoproteins or hypoalphacholesterolemia in 75%. Thus hypoalphacholesterolemia correlates with CHD more frequently than hypercholesterolemia. The area of lipoidosis in the aorta did not correlate with cholesterol levels in the blood plasma. The content of cholesterol in lipid spots is significantly higher in patients with a high cholesterol level in the blood plasma. The area of eminent lesions in the aorta was significantly greater in high cholesterol level in the blood plasma than in low or normal content. In patients with high cholesterol level in the blood multiple stenoses of coronary arteries were found more frequently and isolated stenoses less frequently than in subjects with low cholesterol levels. In the former, stenosis of coronary arteries always exceeded 50% of the vessel lumen while with low cholesterol levels the stenosis did not exceed 50% of the vessel lumen in 10.4% of cases.