The Oxford Acute Myocardial Infarction Study

Research summary

Coronary artery disease (CAD) and its consequences are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the UK, leading to major healthcare and economic burdens. Although our understanding of CAD has improved greatly during the last 20 years, there remain major unanswered questions about the fatty deposits (atherosclerotic plaques) in the coronary artery, and how the narrowed or blocked artery causes heart muscle damage. A patient may present with symptoms at any stage of the disease, from chronic narrowing of artery to the acute blockage of the artery causing acute heart attack. Cardiovascular physicians now have a variety of established and novel techniques to investigate physiological impacts of the disease to an individual patient. These investigations variously examine: a. What features of the narrowed artery may cause sudden blockage. b. Response of the heart muscle function after initial treatment (percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)) in the immediate, short, and long term. c. Regional and systemic physiological responses after PCI. There is growing evidence that information derived from such investigations can correlate with the clinical outcome of a patient. Such information is often referred to as the “biomarker” of a disease state. We propose a large prospective cohort study in patients who present to Oxford Radcliffe Hospital for treatment of CAD. The patients will be assessed using a combination of investigations and followed up for 10 years. We hope to characterise this cohort in great detail by combining all the biomarkers available and examine the relationship to their long term outcome. By examining the relationship of various biomarkers for CAD and the long term clinical outcome of the patients, we could gain significant insight on the utility of each of these biomarkers in the management of patients presenting with CAD. This would potentially personalise treatment for a patient according to the investigation findings.

Principal Investigator

Prof Keith Channon

Contact us

Email: cvm_nurses@cardiov.ox.ac.uk

IRAS number

79429