A lipid panel, often known as a cholesterol test, is a way your healthcare provider can measure the cholesterol levels in your blood. Additionally, it is also an important tool used to assess your risk for cardiovascular disease. This new, non-invasive cholesterol test may be hitting the market as soon as early 2008, and it may be able to tell you have heart disease present – even if you have no symptoms of heart disease.
How Does The Skin Cholesterol Test Work?
The PREVU Point of Care (PREVU POC) Skin Cholesterol Test measures the presence of cholesterol in the skin. Although the blood contains cholesterol, the skin contains a small amount of cholesterol, too. Additionally, as blood vessels accumulate cholesterol, so does the skin. The accumulation of cholesterol on the walls of arteries leads to atherosclerosis, which may lead to other complications, such as a heart attack, peripheral vascular disease, or stroke. Since it the accumulation of cholesterol in arteries and the skin occur at the same rate, it is thought that testing skin cholesterol is a non-invasive and quick way of determining your risk of heart disease.The PREVU POC tests cholesterol works by placing a drop of a chemical, digitonin, within a well (or hole) of a pad that is placed on the palm of the hand. Digitonin selectively binds to cholesterol in the skin. Another liquid is added to this area to induce a color change. This color change, which is read by a machine called a spectrophotometer, corresponds to the amount of cholesterol that is in this skin. The higher your skin cholesterol level is, the more intense the color change will be. This does not correspond to the cholesterol in your blood stream, but is thought to carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), which measures the amount of narrowing present in the arteries. This narrowing corresponds to atherosclerosis, which can lead to conditions, such as a heart attack or stroke.
Who Can Use This Test?
The Food and Drug Administration has only approved use of this test in individuals who already have established cardiovascular disease. This test may be used to assess risk, but it cannot replace other measures of assessing risk (such as measuring blood cholesterol, inflammatory markers). Although there have been a couple of studies that have suggested that the PREVU POC test may detect the presence of atherosclerosis in individuals with no symptoms, it has not gained approval for this use yet in the U.S. This test is already being used in Canada and Europe. In the future, this test may be used in the U.S. as a quick assessment for heart disease risk while in your healthcare provider’s office.Pros and Cons of the PREVU POC Skin Cholesterol Test
PREVU POC appears to be a promising new test that can be used to help identify individuals at risk for heart disease. However, there are some advantages and disadvantages to this new test.Pros:
- There are no needles involved.
- High levels of skin cholesterol have been linked to increased carotid artery thickness and plaque formation, atherosclerosis and increased blood cholesterol in some studies.
- There is no fasting required prior to testing.
- The results are obtained quickly (about five minutes). Therefore, this test can be performed in your healthcare provider’s office and you can discuss your results with him or her.
Cons:
- Currently, this test is only approved in individuals who already have established heart disease or are suspected of having severe coronary artery disease in the U.S.
- Individuals with skin disease may not be able to use this test.
- This is not a replacement for measuring cholesterol. While this test will help in assessing your risk for heart disease, it is not a replacement for more traditional measures of assessing risk (like blood work).
Sources:
PreMD Official Website. 2007. Available at: http://www.premdinc.com/products_prevu.htm. Accessed 27 November 2007.
Sprecher DL, Pearce GL. Skin cholesterol adds to Framingham risk assessment. Am Heart J. 2006 Oct;152(4):694-6.
Sprecher DL, Pearce GL. Elevated skin tissue cholesterol levels and myocardial infarction. Atherosclerosis. 181(2):371-3.
Stein JH, Tzou WS, DeCara JM, et al. Abstract 3557: Increased Skin Cholesterol Identifies Individuals at Increased Cardiovascular Risk: The Predictor of Advanced Subclinical Atherosclerosis (PASA) Study. Circulation, 116: II_805.
Tzou WS, Mays ME, Korcarz CE. Skin cholesterol content identifies increased carotid intima-media thickness in asymptomatic adults. Am Heart J. 150(6):1135-9.
