LVT Duration
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised pilot study assessing the optimal Duration of Anticoagulation for Left Ventricular Thrombus
IRAS ID
1008221
Contact name
Dan Jones
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Research summary
Left ventricular thrombus (LVT) is a condition which occurs following a heart attack (Acute coronary syndrome). Following a heart attack event, the heart muscle is weakened and does not pump blood around the body as well as it needs to. In around 20-30% cases blood clots forms in the main chamber of the heart (left ventricle), because the blood is more stagnant than usual. If all (or fragments) of this clot break-off and becomes lodged in other organs, it has serious consequences, such as stroke, or even death. To prevent this, blood-thinning medication (anti-coagulation) are prescribed to dissolve the clot. Despite this around 40% of these clots remain after treatment. Most of these clots become firmly stuck to the heart muscle, and therefore don’t move to other areas of the body. However, for some time, doctors have chosen to treat patients with persistent blood clots beyond the recommended 6-month period to reduce the risk of stroke. This is driven by consensus and not evidence. Moreover, bleeding is a well-recognised risk to continued anticoagulation treatment.
Therefore, we propose a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) to explore the optimal treatment duration for Left ventricle thrombus (Clot).The LVT Duration is a pilot study aimed to assess whether there is benefit to anticoagulation beyond the initial 3-6month period. This study is funded by Barts Charity and will be a multi-centre NHS, open labelled study.
120 patients will be recruited from NHS hospitals and chosen at random to continue their blood thinning medication or not. They will then be followed up at 6 months with clinical evaluation and scans. The total duration of follow up will be 18months. The findings from this study will help us determine the practicalities of conducting a large RCT.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/EE/0008
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion