The patient should be placed on a standard cholesterol-lowering diet before receiving atorvastatin and should continue on this diet during treatment with atorvastatin. Hypercholesterolemia and Mixed Dyslipidermia; the recommended starting dose of atorvastatin is 10 or 20 mg once daily. Patienrs who require a large reduction in LDL-C (more than 45%) may be started at 40mg once daily. The dosage range of atorvastatin is 10 to 80 mg once daily. Atorvastatin can be administered as single dose at any time of the day, with or without food. The starting dose and maintenance doses of atorvastatin should be individualized according to patient characteristics such as goal of therapy and response. After initiation and/or upon titration of atorvastatin, lipid levels should be analyzed within 2-4 weeks and dosage adjusted accordingly. Since the goal of treatment is lower LDL-C, the NCEP recommends that LDK-C levels be used to initiate and assess treatment response only if LDL-C levels are not available should total C be used to monitor therapy. Heterozygous Familia Hypercholesterolemia in pediatric patients (10-17 years of age): The recommended starting dose of atorvastatin is 10 mg/day; the maximum recommended dose is 20 mg/day (doses greater than 20 mg have not been studied in this patient population). Doses should be individualized according to the recommended goal of theapy. Adjustments should be made at intervals of four weeks or more. Homozygous Familia Hypercholesterolemia: The dosage of atorvastatin in patients with homozygous FH is 10 to 80 mg daily. Atorvastatin should be used as an adjunct to other lipid-lowering treatments (e.g. LDL apheresis) in these patients or if such treatments are unavailable. Or as prescribed by the physician.