Clot Busting with Microbubbles and Ultrasound
Research type
Research Study
Full title
in vitro investigation of the use of microbubble agents to accelerate the rate of ultrasound mediated clot dissolution for the potential treatment of stroke and myocardial infarction
IRAS ID
224538
Contact name
Eleanor Stride
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Stroke is a leading cause of disability and the second highest cause of adult mortality worldwide, accounting for 5.5 million deaths every year. Around 80% of strokes are ischaemic, i.e. caused by an occlusion to a blood vessel which deprives the surrounding tissue of necessary nutrients. In these cases, there is strong evidence that rapid intervention to break down the blood clot (thrombolysis) can help salvage affected tissue and significantly improve retention of brain function. Currently there is only one approved drug for stroke and it has two major limitations. First it must be administered within 3 hours of the onset of stroke and second it presents a risk of potentially fatal side effects. These severely restrict the number of patients who can receive it. Several recent studies have indicated that ultrasound in combination with microbubble agents can be used to enhance the rate of thrombolysis, thereby reducing the required drug dose and enabling treatment to become available to a larger patient population. The aim of this laboratory based study is to investigate the efficacy of microbubble agents to accelerate clot break down using a commercially available ultrasound system. To this we will collect blood samples from healthy volunteers to form clots in small tubes which we will use for our experiments in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford. The work is part of of a project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop more effective ways of delivering drugs to the body to treat diseases such as cancer and stroke.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0822
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion