CVENT H2020

About CVENT H2020

CVENT: European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme Risk assessment of plaque rupture and future cardiovascular events by multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging

Vulnerable atherosclerotic carotid plaques, an age and lifestyle related vascular disease, remain a major cause of death for men and women at middle age and is also a hallmark of generalized cardiovascular diseases (CVD) involving other critical vascular regions like the coronary arteries. Every patient exhibiting symptoms of partial occlusion of the carotid arteries is examined with ultrasound (US) because a matured carotid plaque is potentially vulnerable to rupture. When that happens, the content of the lesion entering the blood stream can cause stroke. In the EU this affects over 1 million people annually. According to the guidelines, the patient is operated on, if a 70-99% occlusion of the artery is found. However, only one out of nine operations is effective (Barnett 1998; Rothwell 2003). Even worse, 19 operations need to be done to prevent a single stroke. Hence, the current method to assess plaque vulnerability is insufficient.

The existence of intra-plaque haemorrhages is the main indicator of rupture-prone atherosclerotic plaques in general. The revolutionary step forward in functional photoacoustic imaging (PA) to be made by the CVENT consortium is providing in-vivo functional imaging of vulnerable plaques in the carotid artery for screening, in-depth diagnosis and monitoring.

CVENT is focused on CVD patients to screen, diagnose and monitor carotid plaque vulnerability, by stratifying patients into higher and lower risk groups, this leads to a reduction in overtreatment, better allocation of healthcare cost, and thus contribute to the sustainability of the health care system in Europe.

Keywords

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Carotid Plaque Content
• Intra-Plaque Haemorrhages
• Neurovascular
• Photo-Acoustic Imaging

Address

• Headquarters

  Philipsweg 1, 6227 AJ Maastricht, Netherlands6227 MaastrichtLimburg, Netherlands