The objectives of ATHERO-EXPRESS
- Follow-up study: To study the predictive value of locally expressed proteins for the occurrence of adverse cardiovascular events in patients undergoing endarteriectomy.
- Cross-sectional studies: To study/validate differential expression in atherosclerotic plaques and/or blood cells among patient groups and plaque phenotypes.
- To combine genetic (whole genome SNP analyses), proteomic and medical data to identify sungroups of patients at risk for adverse cardiovascular events
Inclusion
Patients eligible to undergo endarteriectomy of the carotid or femoral artery to treat atherosclerotic disease in the Saint Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein and Utrecht University Medical center.
The current (May 2008) number of included patients is 1550, 1100 patients carotid endarterectomy and 450 femoral plaque removal. All patients undergo a three year follow up.
For the complete study design and the latest results we refer to the publication list.
Collaboration
The Athero-Express study is done in collaboration with the vascular surgery and pathology department Antonius Hospital Nieuwegein, department of vascular surgery UMCU (head prof F Moll), department of bioinformatics Erasmus University Rotterdam (prof Peter van der Spek) and the start up Cavadis.
The Athero-Express researchers also organized the initiation of a second vascular biobank study with a longitudinal study design. This bank is entitled abdominal aneurysm atheroma (AAA) and currently included over 250 patients.