DIAMOND

Dual antiplatelet therapy to inhibit Atherosclerosis & Myocardial injury in patients with Necrotic high-risk coronary plaque Disease

• Cardiovascular disease is the commonest cause of premature death in the United Kingdom and accounts for thirty percent of all deaths among men and twenty two percent among women. A heart attack (myocardial infarction) is most often caused by a blood clot, which stops blood flowing to part of your heart muscle. Without a good blood supply and oxygen, the heart muscle is at risk of dying. The blood clots form in areas of blood vessels (arteries) that are damaged by a build up of small fatty lumps (plaques). The fatty lumps can break and cause blood to stick to the wall of the blood vessel. Whilst we have good treatment for blocked heart arteries, we do not know which fatty lumps will break and cause a heart attack in the future. This study used a special heart scanning technique known as a Positron Emission Tomography (PET). This allows doctors to look at plaques in heart arteries with a radiotracer called 18F-fluoride to see ‘hotspots’ of damage. The DIAMOND study (Dual antiplatelet therapy to inhibit Atherosclerosis and Myocardial injury in patients with Necrotic high-risk coronary plaque Disease) is the first study to use coronary 18F-fluoride activity to guide treatment in patients with stable coronary artery disease, using PET scanning available at the Edinburgh Imaging Facility QMRI.

• Active

• Dr Philip Adamson

• Prof David Newby
• Dr Laura Forsyth
• Prof Steff Lewis

• Coronary artery disease

• EIF QMRI
  • PET-CT

• Interventional study

• AstraZeneca
• Wellcome Trust