The benefit of aggressive lipid modification on the prevention of progression of atherosclerosis and restenosis in the lower extremity is unknown. This field is severely hampered by the lack of quantitative measurement of vascular lesion pathology. Complete natural history of restenosis following surgical intervention is not clear. We will combine our expertise and resources at Baylor College of Medicine in a multidisciplinary approach to address these important questions. We hypothesize that an aggressive regimen of serum lipid modification will inhibit the progression of atherosclerosis in femoral arteries and reduce the incidence of restenosis of femoral arteries following endovascular stenting by decreasing thrombosis and inflammation. We will recruit a total of 120 patients with symptomatic femoral artery occlusive disease in one leg. These patients will be treated with endovascular stenting, and randomized into two groups: 1) standard medical care and 2) aggressive lipid modification therapy which increases HDL (>40mg/dl) and decreases LDL (<80 mg/dl) and TG (cl50 mg/dl). We will follow these patients for 2 years.
Our Specific Aims are to: 1) Determine the effect of aggressive lipid modification on progression of atherosclerosis and restenosis of femoral arteries. Recently, we have adapted high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study extremity vascular pathology including lesion size, composition, and morphology. This technology will be used to examine both the stented femoral artery for in-stent restenosis and the contralateral femoral artery for atherosclerosis progression or regression. 2) Determine the effects of an aggressive regimen of serum lipid modification on the clinically applicable hemodynamic measurements following femoral artery angioplasty and/or stenting and on the reduction of systemic major cardiovascular events. Large clinical volume and excellent endovascular therapy expertise at Baylor will enable us to evaluate the clinical outcomes, including ankle brachial index (ABI), walking distance, absolute claudication, and duplex ultrasound in a population with significant PAD. 3). Investigate effects of aggressive triple-drug therapy on lipoproteins, inflammation, and relationship to PAD progression, restenosis, and clinical events. Assays of LDL, HDL, TG, Lp(a), particle size and number, hsCRP, TNFalpha, IL-8, MCP-1, sP-selectin, s-ICAM-1, s-VCAM-1, and sCD40L will permit mechanistic insights into PAD progression and clinical events. 4). Investigate the effects of aggressive triple-drug therapy on thrombosis, and relationship to PAD progression, restenosis and clinical events. Association of these studies with clinical outcomes and quantitative femoral MR images will permit mechanistic insights into PAD progression and clinical events. This study will provide a novel strategy to retarding or preventing progression of atherosclerosis and restenosis following arterial revascularization procedures. Importantly, our MRI studies will, for the first time, provide quantitative data on the vascular lesions. Finally, these studies will advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of inflammation and thrombosis associated with aggressive lipid modification.
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