Active Studies
Would you like to participate in a vascular research study?
Please scroll down to discover active vascular studies open to patient recruitment. If you would like to take part in any of the studies below, please use the button provided with the study advertisement to contact the research team directly.
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Studies
CIRCULIFE Study - open for recruitment until 2030
Peripheral artery disease (called PAD) and abdominal aortic aneurysm (called AAA) are two of the deadliest artery health problems worldwide. PAD is when leg arteries are blocked, causing pain, dead skin or amputation. AAA is when the main artery in the body becomes too wide, leading to fatal bleeding.
Two in ten people over 65 have PAD and one in a hundred have AAA worldwide in most countries, including the UK. Those with PAD or AAA have the highest-risk of heart-attacks, strokes, dementia, leg-amputations, and mental-health problems. Certain medications, exercise, and better diet are strongly recommended to prevent these problems. Unfortunately, though, the vast majority of people with PAD or AAA are not treated with the right medications or offered support to change their lifestyle. This is the main challenge PAD or AAA sufferers face when it comes to their healthcare.
To address this, we will create a set of tools to ensure people with PAD or AAA receive the right treatment at the right time. This will include checklists, prescriptions, digital apps, exercise-advice, and documents educating patients. It will help improve people’s quality-of-life and health, ultimately saving legs and lives, globally. We are looking for patients, family and carers with experience of AAA and or PAD to help us design the intervention.
A large study will then be designed to see if using CIRCULIFE improves people’s quality of life, saves legs, and lives, in the NHS and abroad.
If you are aged over 18, live in the UK, and have experience of AAA or PAD then please click the button below to contact the study team and find out more.
GRASP study - open for recruitment until June 2026
Can you spare some time to take part in a research study to improve the NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme?
The NHS's AAA screening programme invites men aged 65 to attend a local clinic for an ultrasound scan to check them for AAA. One of the things that can increase the risk of someone having an AAA is their genetics and DNA.
The GRASP Study team are looking for men aged 60 -70 to take part in a one-off online interview.
We want to know how you feel about using information from your DNA in the pathways and invitations for AAA screening.
For further information and to take part in our research please contact the study team by clicking the button below:
UK-MAT trial - Recruitment end date: June 2028
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is a common problem in older adults, affecting approximately 5% of men and 1% of women over the age of 60. Over time, there is a risk that the AAA increases in size to the point where it requires surgical intervention, or it can rupture, which is life threatening and requires emergency surgery. Other than surgery, there is currently no known effective treatment to treat AAA’s.
The Metformin Aneurysm Trial (UK-MAT) is a randomised control trial taking place at multiple UK vascular centres. It is seeking to explore the impact of the drug Metformin (commonly used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes) on non-diabetic patients who have been diagnosed with a small Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), and are currently attending AAA screening.
To be eligible to participate in the study, individuals must have a AAA below the size of 49mm, diagnosed by imaging though a registered healthcare provider, and have no AAA surgical procedure planned within 12 months. They must be aged over 18, non-diabetic, and should not currently take Metformin.
To discover if your local vascular centre is taking part in the UK-MAT trial, and to find out if you would be eligible to participate in the trial, please contact the study team by clicking the button below.
Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) Studies
CIRCULIFE Study - open for recruitment until 2030
Peripheral artery disease (called PAD) and abdominal aortic aneurysm (called AAA) are two of the deadliest artery health problems worldwide. PAD is when leg arteries are blocked, causing pain, dead skin or amputation. AAA is when the main artery in the body becomes too wide, leading to fatal bleeding.
Two in ten people over 65 have PAD and one in a hundred have AAA worldwide in most countries, including the UK. Those with PAD or AAA have the highest-risk of heart-attacks, strokes, dementia, leg-amputations, and mental-health problems. Certain medications, exercise, and better diet are strongly recommended to prevent these problems. Unfortunately, though, the vast majority of people with PAD or AAA are not treated with the right medications or offered support to change their lifestyle. This is the main challenge PAD or AAA sufferers face when it comes to their healthcare.
To address this, we will create a set of tools to ensure people with PAD or AAA receive the right treatment at the right time. This will include checklists, prescriptions, digital apps, exercise-advice, and documents educating patients. It will help improve people’s quality-of-life and health, ultimately saving legs and lives, globally. We are looking for patients, family and carers with experience of AAA and or PAD to help us design the intervention.
A large study will then be designed to see if using CIRCULIFE improves people’s quality of life, saves legs, and lives, in the NHS and abroad.
If you are aged over 18, live in the UK, and have experience of AAA or PAD then please click the button below to contact the study team and find out more.
CLARITY Trial - Recruitment end date: June 2027
Blocked leg arteries are common and can lead to serious problems like leg loss (amputation). To treat this, a procedure called angioplasty (a medical procedure used to widen narrowed or blocked arteries using a balloon or stent) and blood-thinning tablets (medications designed to prevent blood clots) are used. Blood thinners can be used alone or in combination with each other. This trial is being done to find out whether the type of blood-thinning treatment patients receive after angioplasty influences their health outcomes. Participation in this trial helps us gather essential information that could lead to identifying the most effective treatment for patients.
The CLARITY trial is a randomised controlled trial taking place in NHS locations across the UK, to compare three different routinely used combinations of blood thinners in the NHS after the angioplasty: Clopidogrel alone, Aspirin and Clopidogrel, or Aspirin and Rivaroxaban. We will work to see which tablet or tablet combination works best in preventing specific blood flow and leg problems while minimising side effects for patients.
To
be eligible, individuals must be 18 years old or older, be scheduled to have a
leg angioplasty with their clinician because of narrowed or blocked leg
arteries, be able to give permission to take part and have not joined this
study before. Taking part involves a low level of involvement. Participants
will be asked to take the prescribed tablets as instructed and complete three
questionnaires using a method of their choice (on paper, over the phone or
online) at specific time points.
To register your interest please contact the study team by clicking on the button below:
PLACEMENT Trial - Recruitment end date: August 2026
Major lower limb amputations are life changing events, associated with pain after surgery. Pain may delay recovery, including phantom limb pain, which may affect with fitting and using an artificial leg. The PLACEMENT Trial aims to test a new method for reducing pain after leg amputation, including phantom limb pain, by placing a small catheter (PNC) next to the main nerve in the leg during the amputation procedure.
The PLACEMENT Trial is a randomised control trial taking place in multiple UK NHS sites, which will compare pain in participants who had the PNC to those who did not, to find out if one method results in less post-operative pain than the other.
To be eligible to participate in the trial, individuals must be aged 18 or over, be undergoing a major lower limb amputation because of complications with Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), diabetes and/or acute or chronic infection, have a life expectancy of greater than two weeks, and be able to asses their own pain from a scale of 0 to 10.
To discover if your local vascular centre is taking part in the PLACEMENT Trial, and to find out if you or someone you care for would be eligible to participate in the trial, please contact the study team by clicking the button below.