La diagnostica di laboratorio delle dislipidemie

Dyslipidemias represent a major contributor to cardiovascular risk in Western countries, including Italy, that can be modified. After examining familial dyslipidemias and describing the essential issues for clinical and laboratory diagnostics, the paper considers the laboratory testing in detail. The preanalytical sources of variability (biological, sample collection and handling) are reviewed and essential indications to reduce them are given. About the analytical variability, the paper examines the methods routinely used for measuring the basic lipid parameters (total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoproteins A-I and B) and describes the state of art of the standardization of these analytes. The last section of the document deals with the reporting of laboratory results. The main indications of the document are the following: A) report the desirable values established by the European guidelines besides the measured concentrations; b) make always clear that the reported values are decisional cut points and not reference limits; c) add a note stating that the reported desirable values refer to individuals at low risk; d) report as critical values lipid concentrations deserving rapid clinical attention, i.e., total cholesterol, [8,00 mmol/L (310 mg/dL); LDL cholesterol, [4,90 mmol/L (190 mg/dL); triglycerides, [10,0 mmol/L (880 mg/dL).