The importance of small blood vessels in heart disease

Microvascular dysfunction in patients with angina: the CEMARC-2 microvascular substudy

At the University of Glasgow, Professor Colin Berry’s team have been awarded a 3-year Clinical Research Training Fellowship to study the causes of angina. Angina is a dull, heavy or tight chest pain caused by restricted blood flow to the heart, which could be a sign of being at risk of having a future heart attack. The group’s work is part of a wider BHF-funded clinical trial (called CEMARC-2), which is looking at the best way to diagnose coronary heart disease in people with angina. The team will focus on using a new diagnostic approach in patients with chest pain, which uses a wire inserted into the coronary artery, to measure blood flow to smaller blood vessels supplying the heart. This research is important because patients with chest pain or angina commonly undergo diagnostic tests that look for problems with the larger arteries of the circulation; however, the smaller (so-called microcirculation) may be overlooked. The team’s results will help define the value of looking at smaller vessels. This is important for Dr Corcoran’s practice and for the wider medical community as the NHS is increasingly using the wire-guided technique to help diagnose patients.