The Oxford Imaging of Perivascular adipose tissue in Acute coronary syndromes using Computed Tomography study (The Ox-IMPACT study)

Research summary

Adipose (fat) tissue is now considered to be a key player in the regulation of cardiovascular health. Increased fat accumulation, genetic variability in the expression of signalling molecules in fat as well as changes in the nature of the fat tissue all contribute to an individual’s cardiovascular risk. This is a prospective cohort study involving patients presenting with either a heart attack of recent onset (< 24 hours) or stable coronary artery disease, who are scheduled for intervention (elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, i.e. placement of a stent). A total of 110 patients will be recruited to determine whether a new way of imaging the fat tissue surrounding blood vessels (perivascular adipose tissue) of the heart using computed tomography (CT) can identify individuals at high risk of heart attacks. The study is testing the ability of CT imaging to predict the presence of high-risk features in the vessels of the heart. The primary goal is to examine the ability of perivascular tissue imaging (defined as tissue located around the vessels) on CT angiography (CTA) to detect inflamed and unstable plaques, determine the effect of intervention and stent placement (PCI) on perivascular tissue characteristics on CTA and explore the mechanisms by which CTA imaging biomarkers are linked to cardiovascular disease development.

Principal Investigator

Prof Charalambos Antoniades

Contact us

Email: cvm_nurses@cardiov.ox.ac.uk

IRAS number

209918