Towards the prevention of post cardiac surgery organ failure
More than 35,000 people in the UK have heart surgery each year. Despite decades of research to improve outcomes, kidney and heart failure resulting from cardiac surgery still affects many patients. Professor Murphy’s team have shown that these complications are lower in overweight and obese heart surgery patients. Now they want to understand why that is, and find a way to harness the protective effects for all patients. The Leicester team, led by BHF Professor Gavin Murphy, will test whether different pre-surgery strategies affect the risk of organ failure in patients having a heart bypass operation. One group will lose weight before surgery, another will gain weight through a high-fat diet, and the third group will take a medicine that mimics the metabolic effects of obesity. The team will also measure how the three strategies alter molecular processes associated with organ failure. Finally, they will examine whether testing markers of these processes in blood would be an accurate way of predicting which patients are most at risk of complications. This research could lead directly to the development of new prevention strategies, diagnostic tests, or treatments for after cardiac surgery organ failure. It could help change the way patients are prepared for surgery to prevent organ failure, as opposed to the current approach of treating problems during and after surgery.
Project details
| Grant amount | £1,451,397 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Chairs & Programme Grants |
| Application type | Programme Grant |
| Start Date | 08 January 2018 |
| Duration | 5 years |
| Reference | RG/17/9/32812 |
| Status | In Progress |
