Characterizing blood vessel identity
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Characterizing blood vessel identity to improve outcomes in coronary artery bypass surgery
IRAS ID
275262
Contact name
Denise McDonald
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Healthy heart function is dependent upon a network of blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to the muscle-like myocardial cells that allow the heart to beat. Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) occurs when one of these blood vessels becomes blocked resulting in the heart muscle becoming starved. Untreated, this leads to irreversible tissue damage and heart failure or myocardial infarction. Currently treatment relies on stenting or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery whereby a blood vessel is removed from the patient’s leg (saphenous vein), chest (internal mammary artery) or arm (radial artery) and used to bypass the obstructed vessel, allowing the re-vascularistion of the damaged heart. The latter is a very successful procedure which is limited however by the development of accelerated atherosclerosis and blockage, a condition called vein graft disease which leads to 75% of the vein being occluded within 10 years. The reasons for this accelerated disease progression are not well understood but there is evidence that inducing protective properties in the graft prolongs treatment efficacy. Such treatments are under-researched but have a major potential to improve outcome. Thus, finding ways to enhance the properties of the grafted vessels will improve outcomes for patients undergoing CABG surgery. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to understand the differences between vessels located in different parts of the body. Here, our aim is to compare these differences in order to develop new therapies that could be used to promote arterial properties in grafted vessels and prolong the efficacy of vessel grafts used for surgery.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SC/0090
Date of REC Opinion
2 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion