Cholesterol meds will not spur growth

Dear Dr. Roach: I was diagnosed with high LDL cholesterol 20 years ago. I have been taking higher statin doses and now take Crestor 20 mg. Due to muscle pain, my cardiologist prescribed Praluent injections of 75 mg every two weeks to lower my LDL to below 77. I am 74 and have two heart stents in my right coronary artery, but have never had a heart attack.

Praluent is a monoclonal antibody, and the literature states that it can lower your immunity. I also have lowgrade prostate cancer that has been stable since diagnosed in 2012. Is there a risk that Praluent could cause my prostate cancer to advance? — J.E.

Although taking a statin was once thought to increase cancer risk, multiple studies have since found no convincing evidence that this is the case.

Praluent (alirocumab) is in a new class of drugs, called the PCSK-9 inhibitors. They have not been used for very long, but I found no evidence that these drugs increase cancer risk either. There was some concern that the increase in bile acids seen in people treated with these drugs might predispose them to colon cancer, but initial studies have not shown any problems so far.

I believe that for you, heart disease is a larger risk to your life than your prostate cancer. Since you can’t tolerate a statin, a PCSK-9 inhibitor is more likely to prolong your life by reducing heart disease risk than it is to shorten your life by increasing prostate cancer risk.

Dr. Roach Writes: A recent column on itchy ears generated a lot of letters, mostly asking whether this was due to allergies. One person found that it was the dye from shampoo that seemed to cause the symptom. Several people wrote in that treatment with medicated selenium shampoo helped solve their problem.

As always, I appreciate helpful suggestions from readers.