Extracellular Vesicles At Rest and Stress – EVAREST Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Use of Blood Biomarkers, Including Extracellular Vesicles, to Improve the Diagnostic Accuracy of Cardiac Assessment by Stress Echocardiogram
IRAS ID
162119
Contact name
Paul Leeson
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Stress echocardiogram involves ultrasound of the heart during cardiac stress, to identify patients who may have coronary artery disease. It is a non-invasive method for assessing the heart and is used as screening test in high risk individuals to identify those who should go forward for more invasive procedures, such as angiogram. However, stress echocardiogram is not 100% accurate in detecting coronary artery disease, resulting in some patients undergoing unnecessary procedures and others not being picked up.
We aim to investigate the use of markers in the blood to improve the diagnostic accuracy of stress echocardiogram. Specifically we are interested in measuring extracellular vesicles, which are blebs of cell membrane released from blood cells during cell activation and death.
The findings from our pilot study suggest that monitoring levels of extracellular vesicles during a stress echocardiogram procedure can improve the predictive value of this test in determining patients who have coronary artery disease. In our pilot study we had limited numbers of participants who had a confirmed diagnosis by angiogram. This study will increase those numbers and provide an opportunity to determine the role of blood markers during stress echocardiogram.
This study will take place at the Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility at the John Radcliffe Hospital. It will last three years. Participants will undergo a stress echocardiogram as part of their routine clinical management.REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/1437
Date of REC Opinion
24 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion