Cardiovascular disease accounts for more than a quarter of deaths in the UK.

Scientists at Imperial College London and clinicians from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are working together to highlight the causes of cardiovascular disease and open new avenues for prevention and treatment.

In the next Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) series, an expert from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust will pair up with an academic from Imperial College London to talk about their latest work in understanding and treating cardiovascular disease.

Professor Peter Weinberg from the Department of Bioengineering at the College will talk about his work on using experimental and computer models to understand why atherosclerosis develops only in some parts of the arterial system.

Atherosclerosis is the disease underlying most heart attacks and strokes and it is characterised by lesions in the arteries made of fats, collagen and cells. The lesions cause artery walls to harden and thicken, which severely restricts the flow of blood around the body and they can also rupture, leading to heart attacks and strokes.

The lining of an artery is permeable or 'leaky', which means fat-carrying molecules can pass from the bloodstream though the inner lining and into the underlying wall. This contributes to the build-up of fats in the artery and hence to atherosclerosis.

Professor Weinberg will outline how he has developed experimental models to find out whether the susceptible arterial sites are particularly leaky. He will also explain how computer models show that the elevated permeability caused by the speed and direction of the blood moving through the artery.

Professor Weinberg will discuss how these findings may help in the development of drugs that reduces the fats absorbed by the arteries around the heart.

Dr Rasha Al-Lamee, Interventional Cardiology Consultant at the Trust, will outline the findings of the ORBITA trial which looked at the impact of using heart stents to treat patients with stable angina.

Heart stents are a common procedure to relieve chest pain among heart patients by inserting small metal tubes into blocked arteries. However, Dr Al-Lamee’s study has found that while patients with stable chest pain, or angina, who received stent devices had a significant improvement in the blood supply to their heart, they did not have asignificant improvement on their symptoms or quality of life compared to a placebo procedure.

Dr Al Lamee will explain how they are using this finding to develop a greater understanding of stable angina and to see whether there are subgroups of patients whose angina improves more after stenting.

A light lunch will be provided after the presentations.