Retinal Blood Vessel Simulations
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Coupling vascular simulations with patient imaging to improve eye disease outcomes
IRAS ID
370321
Contact name
Colin Chu
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2026/04/21, UCL Data Protection Registration Number
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Diabetic retinopathy is a common cause of blindness in working age adults. One of the most severe sight-threatening complications is neovascularisation, also known as proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
The purpose of this imaging study is to curate a small high quality dataset of retinal images of active neovascularisation from people with diabetes using the most common non-invasive and cutting edge clinical imaging systems used in both a standard NHS imaging setting (colour photographs, ocular coherence tomography (OCT) and ocular coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and in well-established human research (adaptive optics). The images will be captured at standard NHS appointments for diagnosis, monitoring and pre- and post-treatments and in up to 2 additional imaging visits for the purposes of this study.
The data obtained will support wider collaborative research in the grant that aims to understand the fundamental biology of how neovascularisation in the retina occurs and its response to treatment, both regression and vessel growth. This could lead to a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology and ultimately new therapeutic approaches and methods for the monitoring and diagnosis of patients. The data will be used to train predictive models that could allow us to determine which patients are likely to develop neovascularization or respond to particular therapeutic interventions.
The treatments received by the participants in this imaging study will be the standard of care for their condition (peripheral retinal laser or intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF agents (vascular endothelial growth factor), without any changes to their treatment. The maximum duration of the participation in the study will be around 6-9 months for each participant.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/PR/0643
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jul 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion