Treat CHIP Like Lipoprotein(a)?
As for cardiovascular risk, Dr. Ballantyne believes that, because CHIP is an unmodifiable risk factor, an example to follow could be lipoprotein(a) (LP[a]).
“We don’t have a therapy specifically to target LP(a) yet, but we do know that the things that benefit in general,” he said, such as “taking a statin, lowering blood pressure into the optimal zone, diet ,and exercise.”
“What we do in our clinic, and what others have been doing,” Dr. Weeks added, “is for every patient who comes in and is diagnosed with CHIP, we are referring them to preventative cardiology for very aggressive preventative management.”
Finally, both Dr. Ballantyne and Dr. Weeks agree that there are many potential innovations on the horizon.
“It’s pretty exciting in terms of beginning to understand some of the links between aging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer that we had not been thinking about,” Dr. Ballantyne said.
On the malignant side, Dr. Weeks is already working on a prospective study to determine how the risks associated with CHIP evolve when patients undergo chemotherapy and radiation for other cancers.
“That will be really exciting and will help us to develop a specific calculator in that context,” she said, adding that a cardiovascular-specific calculator “is also coming down the line.”
Dr. Weeks declared relationships with Abbvie, Vertex, and Sobi. Dr. Ballantyne declared a relationship with Ten Sixteen Bio, and funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. No other relevant financial relationships were declared.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.