Prednisolone and coronary artery disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prednisolone to improve the use of PET/CT in detecting unstable coronary artery plaques
IRAS ID
172146
Contact name
Roland H Stimson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the biggest cause of death in the UK and worldwide. Coronary angiography is the main technique used to diagnose CAD, however this technique is invasive and often misses unstable plaques at risk of rupture which is the major cause of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death. Therefore, there is a need to develop new techniques which can diagnose coronary plaques at high risk of rupture non-invasively. The technique of positron emission tomography (PET) shows good promise, as this can identify lesions at high risk of rupture. However, often the sensitivity of this technique is not good enough due to interference from adjacent tissues. We plan to determine whether prednisolone (a synthetic glucocorticoid very similar to the natural hormone cortisol) can improve the sensitivity of PET to detect coronary atherosclerotic plaques at high risk of rupture. To do this, we will randomise 20 patients with known coronary artery disease to receive either prednisolone or placebo. Each patient will then undergo two PET/CT scans – one scan will take place following prednisolone and the other scan will take place following placebo. The order of these will be random and the patient and investigator will be blinded to which treatment was received. There will be a 2 week period between scans.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
15/SS/0081
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion