Current Research and Scholarly Interests
I am interested in the role of thrombosis in stimulating venous wall morphologic change. Our preliminary data suggests thrombin, which is biologically active and intercalated in the thrombus, stimulates thrombin receptors in the venous wall leading to wall thickening. We have a model of DVT in the rat we are investigating and we are using a similar model in mice, some of which are knockouts and transgenics with various risk factors for thrombosis deleted or overexpressed. We are looking to develop new ways to prevent chronic venous wall thickening following DVT, which we see with ultrasound studies in patients with post-thrombotic venous insufficiency. I also have an interest in non-invasive vascular imaging. Current projects include the development of a 3-D color Duplex ultrasound and evaluation of differential arterial blood flow during moderate exercise using real time MRI and a special visualizer software program. We are evaluating and comparing differential flow increases in normal volunteers and patients with intermittent claudication. Such a tool could then be used to evaluate the efficacy of certain treatments for claudication.
