Regulation of intimal thickening
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Factors that regulate intimal thickening
IRAS ID
156864
Contact name
Sarah J George
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Research summary
Sections of leg vein are frequently used in heart bypass surgery to get around blocked coronary arteries and improve blood supply to the heart muscle. However, these vein grafts often become narrowed in the months and years following surgery and eventually fail. Vein graft failure affects around fifty per cent of patients within ten years of surgery which is not only a problem for the patients needing further treatment, but it also has huge cost implications for the NHS. Therefore, new treatments to prevent vein graft failure would bring great health benefits.
Vein graft failure is caused by increased activity of cells within the vein graft which causes thickening of the inner layer of the vein – known as the intima. Consequently, we are using a variety of approaches to understand the underlying mechanism responsible for the thickening of the intima. Collection of surplus, anonymised saphenous vein at the end of coronary artery bypass surgery provides us with the most relevant material to use for our studies. We and others have previously identified the importance of cell damage, enhanced cell activation and insufficient repair of the vein after grafting as important factors in vein graft failure. In this research we will examine novel therapies which have the potential to reduce vein graft failure using freshly collected and existing stored segments of surplus saphenous vein remaining at the end of bypass surgery.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1097
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion