IMPROVING CLINICAL PRACTICE FOR PATIENTS WITH A BLOOD CLOT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
IMPROVING CLINICAL PRACTICE FOR PATIENTS WITH A BLOOD CLOT
IRAS ID
188239
Contact name
Helena Edlin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 3 days
Research summary
Blood clots in the veins (deep vein thrombosis (DVT)) affect 1 in every 1000 people in the UK.
Current methods to diagnose DVT uses ultrasound to determine if there is a clot present. Although this is crucial information, it is not possible to accurately determine the age of the clot, therefore, one clot my be diagnosed as a new clot on numerous occasions. This information is important as only a new clot will be treated with anti coagulation, old clots are deemed 'stable'. This therefore has consequences for both the patient, unnecessary treatment (often for life) and for the NHS, unnecessary costs.
It is known that blood clots stiffen over time.
This study aims to show that clot stiffness can be measured using a relatively new ultrasound tool (shear wave elastography (SWE)) which is already used in clinical practice to measures the stiffness of liver, breast and thyroid tissue.
Once this has been proven to be feasible it will lead on to further studies to help develop a diagnostic guideline to aid sonographers to give this information on a routine basis, therefore help reduce the number of patients treated unnecessarily.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0252
Date of REC Opinion
5 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion