Evolocumab and coronary flow: The CHORAL Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
CHOlesterol Reduction with Evolocumab and coronAry microvascuLar function: The CHORAL Study
IRAS ID
242498
Contact name
Ricardo Petraco
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Eudract number
2018-002483-11
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
PCSK9 inhibitors are known to reduce cholesterol and decrease heart attacks and other cardiac events. However the precise mechanisms via which they protect the heart are not fully understood.
The PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab is an injectable medicine which reduces the level of LDL, so-called "bad cholesterol", in the blood by slowing down an enzyme in the liver which stops the cholesterol from being absorbed into cells. We know that having lower levels of LDL in your blood is associated with lower rates of heart attack and stroke but we want to know more about what changes occur, at a microscopic level inside arteries, when LDL is reduced. We will randomise patients into a group who get the medicine versus a group who get the placebo and then record pressure and blood flow inside their arteries before and after a period of treatment with the medicine.
This study will recruit patients who have been referred for an angiogram test, are already taking a statin (a medicine which reduces cholesterol) but still have high cholesterol.
The trial will be conducted in the catheter laboratories at Hammersmith Hospital and other Imperial College affiliated sites, where we routinely perform angiogram tests and coronary pressure wire tests on patients with suspected heart disease.
The study is expected to last three years and we would expect to recruit 120 patients in that time.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0249
Date of REC Opinion
11 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion