Michel Reijnen (UT) and Anne Saris (Radboudumc) received a TURBO grant for their research on Blood flow Evaluation After carotid surgical Treatment (BEAT); towards an improved treatment strategy for patients with carotid artery stenosis
Each year in the Netherlands, approximately 3,000 patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis, who are at risk of stroke, undergo carotid endarterectomy (CEA), a surgical procedure to remove plaque from the artery. Two commonly used techniques for this procedure are CEA with patch repair (CEAP) and a socalled eversion technique (ET). It is the surgeon’s choice to perform either one of them, but they face a challenge in optimal patient-specific treatment selection especially regarding effectivity and safety of the procedure.
Long-term studies suggest that CEAP is associated with a higher rate of restenosis (re-narrowing of the artery) compared to ET. It is well known that the way blood flows through arteries is important in the development of atherothrombosis. Preliminary results from a pilot study revealed significant blood flow recirculation in patients who recently underwent CEAP, which may contribute to this increased risk of restenosis.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to better understand how surgical techniques influence local blood flow and, consequently, restenosis risk. Reijnen and Saris propose a multi-center study (involving Radboudumc, MST, Rijnstate, and ETZ) to evaluate post-surgical blood flow patterns following the two different procedures, ET and CEAP. Their hypothesis is that disturbed blood flow, assessed using ultrasound-based velocity vector imaging (US-VVI), will be more pronounced after CEAP, potentially explaining the higher restenosis rate.
The BEAT study will serve as a critical first step towards advocating for a larger, randomized trial to directly compare both surgical techniques and determine which should be the preferred standard.
ABOUT TURBO
Reijnen and Saris’ team is one of the four interdisciplinary teams from the Radboudumc and the University of Twente (TechMed Centre) that received €80,000 from the Twente University Radboudumc Opportunities (TURBO) program to further their work. TURBO is a joint subsidy program of the University of Twente and Radboudumc for medical-technological research. The program is part of HealthTech Nexus, the strategic collaboration between Radboudumc and the University of Twente at the intersection of healthcare and medical technology.
Since its launch in 2017, TURBO has already helped 28 research groups with more than 2 million euros. Partly thanks to TURBO, Radboudumc and the University of Twente have now realized more than 19-million-euro worth of joint research projects.