Developing a new technique to image blood clots in heart arteries

Early clinical development of a thrombus 18F-radiotracer (Dr Jack Andrews)

BHF Professor David Newby and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh are working to develop a new technique that detects blood clots in heart arteries. This will complement their new imaging method that detects dangerous fatty build ups in the coronary artery, known as plaques that are likely to rupture and lead to a heart attack or stroke. In this project, a student working with Professor Newby and the team will develop a new probe that can also detect blood clots in the arteries of the heart. These two methods will complement each other – together they will detect plaques at high risk of rupturing and also detect blood clots. In this project, they will test the probe for the first time in healthy volunteers and in people who have recently had a heart attack, to find out if it accurately detects blood clots in heart arteries. This research could enable doctors to image a blood clot in the heart from outside the body for the first time, without the need for invasive surgery. This scanning combination would help doctors to determine a person’s risk of having a heart attack, and help us understand how the heart attack causing clot behaves and develops over time.