Update on Lipodystrophy in HIV Video Transcript

Webcast Transcript

How bad the immune system was damaged seems to be predictor of how likely an individual is going to develop fat loss.

ANNOUNCER: The HOPS study, somewhat controversially, also found NO significant tie between any drug and fat wasting.

KEN LICHTENSTEIN, MD: The host and disease factors that were statistically significant had a stronger association with lipoatrophy than did the drugs, and therefore the drugs were not as important as disease and host factors.

ANNOUNCER: Those data do not fully square with other studies, and doctors believe HIV drugs are at least partially responsible for lipodystrophy, including fat loss.

A recent, small-scale research study showed that when one drug believed to cause fat loss was replaced by another, patients regained about 33 percent of the fat they had lost.

WILLIAM POWDERLY, MD: Many of us were very concerned that this might not be a reversible side effect and that, if people lost body fat, they might lose it forever. But this study shows that in fact there can be some recovery and raises the possibility that, with time and the right treatment, there will be a regain of lost fat.

ANNOUNCER: Another small, recent study showed a small reversibility of fat loss when patients with Lipodystrophy who experienced insulin resistance were given a drug which is used to treat diabetes.

Doctors are also reporting good results in treating lipodystrophy with changes in diet, exercise, testosterone, growth hormone, and drugs that lower cholesterol.

ANNOUNCER: Research is greatly expanding our understanding of the complex syndrome known as lipodystrophy.

And doctors are hopeful they will develop effective strategies to help better treat lipodystrophy, while still helping patients fight HIV effectively.

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