14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have just awarded at $1.7 million (€1.25 million) grant to a collaboration of American researchers, for developing an innovative imaging technology to benefit heart diseases patients.
The effort is being led by scientists with the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and the University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The focus on the study is developing ways of allowing doctors to monitor the evolution of stents placed on coronary arteries with unprecedented precision.
Stents such as those in the image above can be used on blood vessels to prevent damage, or to keep them open when they get clogged by cholesterol. They are a critical aspect of many heart surgeries, but many patients end up dying because stents can sometimes migrate from their original location.
The new imaging technology – work on which has already begun – will enable doctors to analyze the position and location of the stents in great detail, thus allowing them to intervene in time in case anything goes wrong. Considering that heart diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States, this technique could save millions of lives annually, the team says.