Why is advanced lipid testing performed?

Advanced lipid testing may be recommended by your healthcare provider to optimize your cholesterol treatment. Advanced lipid tests are performed because standard cholesterol tests may not completely represent cholesterol-related risk for heart attacks and strokes. Some people -- especially people with diabetes, insulin resistance, or cardiovascular disease -- continue to have progression of cardiovascular disease, even when their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is at goal. Advanced lipid testing is usually performed in addition to a standard cholesterol test or "lipid panel," which measures total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglycerides. Two commonly used advanced lipid tests are apolipoprotein B (apoB) and LDL particle number (LDL-P).