Abstract Introduction Lipoprotein apheresis (LA) is an extracorporeal therapy which removes apolipoprotein B-containing particles from the circulation. We evaluated techniques and efficiency of lipoprotein apheresis procedures applied to patients with familial and non-familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) at our center. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 250 LA procedures applied to 27 patients with dyslipidemia between March 2011 and August 2019. Results A total of 27 patients, of whom 19 (70.4%) were male and 8 (29.6%), female, were included. Eighteen (66.7%), 6 (22.2%) and 3 (11.1%) patients were diagnosed with non-FH, homozygous FH (HoFH) and heterozygous FH (HeFH), respectively. Two different apheresis techniques, direct adsorption of lipoproteins (DALI) (48.8%) and double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) (51.2%), were used. The change in the serum total cholesterol (TC) level was the median 302 mg/dl (171-604 mg/dl) (60.4%) in HoFH patients, 305 mg/dl (194-393 mg/dl) (60.8%) in HeFH patients and 227 mg/dl (75-749 mg/dl) (65.3%) in non-FH patients. The change in the serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level was the median 275 mg/dl (109-519 mg/dl) (64.2%), 232 mg/dl (207-291 mg/dl) (64.5%) and 325 mg/dl (22-735 mg/dl) (70.9%) in patients with HoFH, HeFH and non-FH, respectively. A significantly effective reduction in serum lipid levels, including TC, LDL and triglycerides, was achieved in all patients, regardless of the technique, p< .001. The decrease in the serum TC and LDL levels was significantly higher in the DFPP, compared to the DALI, being 220 mg/dl (-300 to 771) vs 184 mg/dl (64-415), p< .001 and 196 mg/dl (11-712) vs 157 mg/dl (54-340), p< .001, respectively. Conclusions Our results showed that LA is a highly effective treatment in reducing serum lipid levels and safe, without any major adverse event.

Objective To estimate the kidney volume of the healthy Turkish population using ultrasound and to evaluate the relationship between kidney volume and body indexes. Materials and methods Kidney ultrasound evaluation was performed on 152 patients (mean age: 42±13.7 years). Kidney length, width and thickness were measured using ultrasound. Mean total and parenchymal volume were also calculated. Patients’ age, sex, weight, height and body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2) were recorded. Results According to ultrasound, kidney lengths were 10.3±7.8 cm for the right and 10.4±9 cm for the left. Volumes were 158±39 cm3 for the right and 168±40 cm3 for the left. Volumes in women were 151.8±39 cm3 for the right and 159.8±37 cm3 for the left, and 164.3±38 cm3 for the right and 175.8±41 cm3 for the left in men. Kidney measurements correlated with body height and weight. A strong correlation with total kidney volume and kidney measurements was determined for body weight for both kidneys (p<0.001). A significant correlation with kidney volume and width was determined for both kidneys (p<0.001). A positive correlation was also found between parenchymal and total kidney volume for both kidneys (p<0.001). Conclusion The most significant factors associated with kidney volume for both kidneys in the Turkish population are kidney width and body weight. Measuring kidney volume with ultrasound is a feasible modality and is widely available for daily clinical practice.