View clinical trials related to Vascular Endothelium.
Filter by:The greatest challenge in our ageing society are cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart attack, peripheral artery disease of the legs with non-healing wounds (ulcers), or diabetes. How healthy ageing affects the smallest blood vessels (microcirculation) and is not well understood. One reason for this is that no generally available medical instrument has the resolution to study the microcirculation. The recently developed optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), currently mainly used by eye doctors, is able to visualise the microcirculation. We have developed an automated software (OCTAVA) to determine metrics to characterise the microcirculation on the layers of density, diameter and tortuosity. In the current study we aim at providing reference values of these metrics in hands and feet of healthy people according to age together with macrovascular function in arms and legs.
Prolonged periods of reduced activity are associated with decreased vascular function and muscle atrophy. Physical inactivity due to acute hospitalization is also associated with impaired recovery, hospital readmission, and increased mortality. Older adults are a particularly vulnerable population as functional (vascular and skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction) and structural deficits (loss in muscle mass leading to a reduction in strength) are a consequence of the aging process. The combination of inactivity and aging poses an added health threat to these individuals by accelerating the negative impact on vascular and skeletal muscle function and dysfunction. The underlying factors leading to vascular and skeletal muscle dysfunction are unknown, but have been linked to increases in oxidative stress. Additionally, there is a lack of understanding of how vascular function is impacted by inactivity in humans and how these changes are related to skeletal muscle function. It is our goal to investigate the mechanisms that contribute to disuse muscle atrophy and vascular dysfunction in order to diminish their negative impact, and preserve vascular and skeletal muscle function across all the lifespan.
Background: Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) can be treated using surgery, balloon angioplasty or stent implantation. Although short-term results are excellent with all three treatment modalities, long term cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality remain high, likely due to persistently abnormal vascular function. The effects of treatment modality on long term vascular function remain uncharacterized. The goal of this study is to assess vascular function in this patient population for comparison among the treatment modalities. Methods: Vascular function in large and small arteries will be prospectively assessed fusing multiple non-invasive modalities, and the results will be compared among the three groups of CoA patients previously treated using surgery, balloon angioplasty or stent implantation after frequency matching for confounding variables. A comprehensive vascular function assessment protocol was created to be used in 7 centers. The primary outcome is arterial stiffness measured by arterial tonometry. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were carefully established after consideration of several potential confounders. Sample size was calculated for the primary outcome variable. Conclusions: Treatment modalities for CoA may have distinct impact on large and small arterial vascular function. The results of this study will help identify the treatment modality that is associated with the most optimal level of vascular function, which, in the long term may reduce CV risk.