Clinical Research Directory

Carotid Plaque RADS vs CPVH: Diagnostic Accuracy Comparison

This study compares two methods for assessing carotid artery plaques - deposits of cholesterol and other substances that can build up in the neck arteries and potentially lead to stroke. The first method, Carotid Plaque RADS, is a standardized ultrasound-based scoring system where expert physicians visually classify plaques into categories reflecting their stability. The second method, CPVH (Carotid Plaque Virtual Histopathology), is a software tool that automatically analyzes ultrasound images to identify plaque components (lipids, fibrous tissue, calcium, blood, muscle) and calculates a prognostic index indicating plaque vulnerability. The study aims to determine how well the results of these two methods agree with each other, whether they identify the same plaques as unstable or vulnerable, and how well each method predicts clinical outcomes such as transient ischemic attack (TIA), ischemic stroke, progression of arterial narrowing, or the need for surgery (carotid endarterectomy or stenting) within a 12-month follow-up period. Patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques of any degree of severity are included. Plaques are evaluated independently by three ultrasound experts using the Carotid Plaque RADS system and separately by the CPVH software. The results are compared across four groups based on the degree of arterial narrowing: less than 20%, 20-49%, 50-69%, and 70-99%. The study also identifies cases where the two methods disagree and analyzes possible reasons for these discrepancies. The findings are expected to provide practical recommendations for combining both methods in clinical practice, to improve the identification of high-risk plaques and to help personalize treatment decisions for patients with carotid atherosclerosis.

NON CANONICAL ACTIVATION OF BOOD COAGULATION

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide and most of them are characterized by enhanced generation of active -thrombin (T) from the inactive Prothrombin zymogen (ProT), a reaction catalysed by factor Xa. CVD may be idiopathic, but also appear as the expression of thrombotic complications occurring with variable incidence and severity in different (apparently unrelated) diseases, such as for instance Type-2 Diabetes (T2D) , Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) , Cancer , rheumatoid (RA) arthritis , autoimmune diseases such as the AntiPhospholipid Syndrome (APS), bacterial and viral infectious diseases, and amyloid-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, IgG light-chain amyloidosis and human transthyretin (hTTR) Senile Systemic Amyloidosis.This Project aims at combining different and complementary expertise with the general purpose of identifying new pathogenetic mechanisms for CVD and explored the possibility to devise novel and more effective therapeutic strategies.