Successful treatment of a patient with statin-induced myopathy and myotonic dystrophy type II with proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor, alirocumab (Praluent)

Mohamed K.M. Shakir*, Terry Shin, Thanh D. Hoang, Vinh Q. Mai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Presently there are limited treatment options for hypercholesterolemia in patients with statin intolerance and myotonic dystrophy. A 74 year-old male presented to endocrine clinic with hypercholesterolemia (serum LDL-C 210 mg/dL), hypogonadism, insulin-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus, and minimally elevated serum creatine kinase (CK) levels (184 U/L, ref. range 38-174). Shortly after simvastatin treatment, patient developed severe myalgias in the proximal lower and upper extremities; and serum CK increased to 317 U/L. Subsequently patient was treated with various statins including rosuvastatin with similar outcomes. Patient was also treated with bile acid binding resin and ezetimibe without improvement. At this time, a diagnosis of myotonic dystrophy type 2 was confirmed. Patient was then treated with alirocumab, a PCSK9 inhibitor 75 mg subcutaneously every 2 weeks with significant improvement in LDL-C (90 mg/dL) and myalgias. In conclusion, PCSK9 inhibitors such as alirocumab may be an excellent lipid lowering agent in patients with statin intolerance and myotonic dystrophy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1485-1487
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of Clinical Lipidology
Volume11
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Alirocumab
  • Hypercholesterolemia
  • PCSK9 inhibitor

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Successful treatment of a patient with statin-induced myopathy and myotonic dystrophy type II with proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor, alirocumab (Praluent)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this