LETTER

Lipoprotein(a) and Venous Thromboembolism further incident thromboembolic events, might enlighten parts
in Adults: A Meta-Analysis of the ambiguities about this puzzling lipoprotein.
Lastly, there are referencing errors within the article,
To the Editor: particularly in Figure 2.

Sofi et al used the cutoff level of 300 mg/L for designa- Behnood Bikdeli, MD
tion of lipoprotein(a) elevation, while they excluded the Shadi Kalantarian, MD
study by Marz et al, as they had reported protein moiety of Cardiovascular Research Center
lipoprotein(a) instead.1,2 However, it has been recently pro- Modarres Medical Center
posed that expression of lipoprotein(a) levels in terms of Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
Tehran, Iran
nmol/L of lipoprotein(a) protein would be a more accurate
way for lipoprotein(a) measurement that reduces the possi- doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2007.09.019
bility for heterogeneity in reporting lipoprotein(a) levels
between studies.3 Measurement of lipoprotein(a) with het- References
erogeneous techniques is one of the potential reasons for 1. Sofi F, Marcucci R, Abbate R, et al. Lipoprotein (a) and venous
conflicting results of different studies evaluating lipopro- thromboembolism in adults: a meta-analysis. Am J Med. 2007;120(8):
tein(a) levels and venous thromboembolic disease. 728-733.
In addition, although the work by Sofi et al is quite 2. Marz W, Trommlitz M, Scharrer I, Gross W. Apolipoprotein (a) con-
centrations are not related to the risk of venous thrombosis. Blood
valuable, it cannot prove any causal relationship between
Coagul Fibrinolysis. 1991;2:595-599.
elevated lipoprotein(a) levels and venous thromboembo- 3. Anuurad E, Boffa MB, Koschinsky ML, Berglund L. Lipoprotein(a):
lism. A prospective study of patients with elevated lipopro- a unique risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Clin Lab Med. 2006;
tein(a) levels, compared with matched controls to investigate 26(4):751-772.

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