Dugom certified in lipidology
By From staff reports
Published in News on December 28, 2015 1:46 PM
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Dr. Muin Dugom
Dr. Muin Dugom, FACP of Goldsboro, has recently received board certification in clinical lipidology.
The president of Goldsboro Medical Center is the first physician in eastern North Carolina to get the certification by the American Board of Clinical Lipidology.
The field is a relatively new multidisciplinary branch of medicine, which focuses primarily on the management of dyslipidemia (cholesterol and other lipid disorders) and related metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, which often lead to heart disease and stroke.
Coronary artery disease is still the No. 1 cause of death in this country and many western countries, the physician said, making preventive measures imperative.
"The good news is that this disease can be prevented with proper disease prevention and management," he said. "The preventive measures and treatment are much more effective, especially in high risk patients. In certain high risk populations, like people with familial hyperlipidemia, diabetes and family history of premature coronary artery disease, treatment may have to be started very early in life, when patients are still asymptomatic but continue to build plaques in their arteries at a fast pace."
Dr. Dugom has practiced in Wayne County for 20 years -- for four years as part of Carolina Heart and the last 16 at Goldsboro Medical Center. He is currently an assistant clinical professor at the Department of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
He said with many patients facing coronary artery disease, one of the challenges is medications -- be it an inability to tolerate the drugs or afford them. But he maintains there is no excuse for any high risk patient with high cholesterol to go untreated.
"It is much more rewarding for me to recognize and treat these high risk patients early on in life, than seeing them in the hospital after they had their heart attack or stroke," he said. "Although I have been really busy with my own practice, I hope to be able to help local physicians in eastern North Carolina in the diagnosis and management of difficult cases they encounter in their practice."