MILWAUKEE — Once a week, Mark Kissinger makes the trip from Jackson, Wisconsin, to Milwaukee.

He undergoes a plasmapheresis treatment at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Kissinger said he has high triglycerides, and the treatment helps cut his number in half. 

“I have two ports,” said Kissinger. “Basically, an in and out. It takes about two hours depending on how things are going. Basically, all they call it is just skimming the blood, cleaning the blood. The bad stuff gets filtered out and synthetic plasma gets replaced.” 

He has been going to the Lipid Clinic for the past eight months under the watchful eye of his cardiologist Dr. Maya Safarova.

Safarova works at the Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin Lipid Clinic in partnership with Versiti. 

“This is just kind of a bridge, just kind of a temporary fix to try and manage and control my triglycerides,” said Kissinger.

The Lipid Clinic is made up of a team of health care experts, including cardiologists, genetic counselors and pharmacists.

They provide treatment to patients for different cardiovascular issues. In Kissinger’s case, it is elevated triglycerides. 

“It starts with knowing your number,” said Safarova. “Then afterwards, taking it to the next level. If my primary care provider feels that these are the numbers that aren’t easy to control because a lot of things can be handled by a primary care provider, if they feel that they might be something more to that genetic component, high LDL, high triglycerides — maybe the medication isn’t working well because they’re not getting to their numbers.” 

Safarova said the next step for Kissinger is a new medication that was recently approved in December. 

“Maya has been the one that’s been great with finding different alternatives for me and keeping in contact with me and communicating very well to tell me what her plan is and what other medicines are out there,” said Kissinger.