New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Age may impact patients’ ability to repair
arteries
Newswise — With an aging population,
increasing focus is on treating conditions
that develop in later life, such as
atherosclerosis and its progression to
ischemia, a condition in which the blood
flow (and thus oxygen) is restricted to a
part of the body.
Many times ischemia is found in the lower
extremities in older individuals. Older
patients are thought to have less tolerance
to acute ischemia than younger patients,
often leading to poor outcomes resulting in
increased risk of mortality and amputation.
According to the American Vascular
Association (AVA) Resident Research Prize
Paper, presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting
of the Society for Vascular Surgery, older
patients also may have less ability to
repair of vessels and arteries after acute
injury, similar to other effects of aging.
Study author and Resident Research Prize
recipient Tormod S. Westvik, MD, a resident
at the Yale University School of Medicine,
New Haven, Conn., described how researchers
created a model mimicking severe leg
ischemia, to examine the effects of age and
whether it depresses the regeneration of
blood vessels and arteries in severe acute
limb ischemia.
Dr. Westvik explained in the lab 15 young
adult (three months) and 20 aged (18 months)
mice underwent right common iliac artery and
vein ligation and transection. Data were
collected on days 0, 7 and 14. After severe
hindlimb ischemia, both groups of mice had a
similar degree of decreased perfusion and
all became ischemic. Older mice had a
significantly impaired arteriogenesis and
functional recovery after 14 days. Aged mice
also had increased capillary density and
endiothelial progenitor cell numbers
compared to young mice, but diminished
collateral supply to the ischemic limb.
“On a biological level, both groups of mice
produced the components necessary to form
new vessels. However, only the young animals
succeeded in arranging these components into
functioning vessels which improved blood
flow to the injured leg,” said Dr. Westvik.
“These
results suggest that strategies to stimulate
arteriogenesis may complement those that
increase angiogenesis, thus may result in
improved relief of ischemia.”
“Based on the results in our study, we
propose that further investigations should
be aimed at improving the ability of older
animals (and subsequently patients) to
arrange these available components into
functioning vessels, thus improving the
outcome after acute ischemia,” said Dr.
Westvik.
The AVA Resident Research Prize is intended
to motivate physicians, early in their
training, to pursue their interest in
research and offer the opportunity to
present their research at the Vascular
Annual Meeting.
The Resident Research Prize includes a
$5,000 award and the opportunity to present
the winner’s work at the Vascular Annual
Meeting and have it published in the
Journal of Vascular Surgery.
About the Society for
Vascular Surgery
The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is a
not-for-profit society that seeks to advance
excellence and innovation in vascular health
through education, advocacy, research and
public awareness.
SVS is the national
advocate for 2,400 vascular surgeons
dedicated to the prevention and cure of
vascular disease. Visit the website at
http://www.VascularWeb.org.
...
...
...