The iSVD Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Imaging Inflammation in Small Vessel Disease
IRAS ID
135258
Contact name
Fergus Doubal
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
awaited, SSRN (Scottish Stroke Research Network)
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Cerebral small vessel disease causes a quarter of all strokes (Lacunar stroke) and is the commonest cause of dementia related to problems with the brain's blood supply. It also causes impairment of brain function and physical disability, reducing independence in older people. Pathology studies show that inflammation is a common finding in the blood vessel walls. At present patients with lacunar stroke are treated no differently from most other stroke patients, but recent trials have shown that this may be dangerous for them. It is important to find out more about what causes this disease and so how to treat it.
This research project, funded by the Wellcome Trust-University of Edinburgh Institutional Strategic Support Fund, aims to find out if we can see the inflammation around the small blood vessels in the brain using iron oxide particles (in the form of the licenced product Ferumoxytol, used for treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in patients with chronic kidney disease) that are absorbed by active inflammatory cells in the brain and can be detected by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. These particles are available for intravenous infusion and have been used many times in the last four years in Edinburgh for imaging inflammation in the heart and elsewhere.
We will invite patients who are being treated for a recent lacunar stroke at the stroke clinic or stroke ward and who are independent and not cognitively impaired following their stroke. We will scan them immediately before giving them ferumoxtyol and then 24-30 hours later in order to reveal any regions of inflammation in the brain. We will scan patients for a third and final time one month later to determine whether the ferumoxtyol has remained visible on this timescale.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
14/SS/1081
Date of REC Opinion
27 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion