WEDNESDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with Hodgkin's disease, cholesterol screening and treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs may help extend survival, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Philadelphia.
Aileen Chen, M.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues studied a group of 25-year-old Hodgkin's survivors and compared outcomes in those who received lipid screening every five years starting five years after treatment with those who received no lipid screening.
The researchers found that patients who received lipid screening followed by statin therapy, when warranted, lived six months longer than those who received no lipid screening.
"Although physicians are aware that Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors are at increased risk of heart disease, it hasn't been well established how to best monitor these patients," Chen said in a statement. "Our study shows that lipid screening in Hodgkin's survivors is cost effective and provides physicians with a guideline on how frequently they should be screening for high cholesterol, an important risk factor for heart disease."
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