Grant: Operating Grant

A conservative estimate reports that approximately 1.6 million Canadians suffer from vascular disease or live with the effect of stroke, costing $22B annually and accounting for approx. 32% of deaths in Canada. Vascular bypass remains a critical intervention to the repair of diseased blood vessels, where the need for coronary artery replacements remains elevated in Canada and in the world (in the US ~400,000 coronary artery by-passes annually). Peripheral arterial disease occurs when blood flow to the limbs is damaged or blocked. It is estimated that 4.3% of the population over 40 suffer from peripheral arterial disease and 14.5% over the age of 70, and the numbers are increasing due to shifting demographics and the rise in type II diabetes (~27 million people in Europe and North America). A person with Peripheral vascular disease is 2-6 times more likely to die from a heart attack or have a stroke than a person without peripheral vascular disease. The need for non-occluding small diameter vessel replacements is increasing since the current standard for vessel replacement is still to use healthy vessels from the patients themselves (which is difficult to find in this patient group). The principal investigators have synthesized a degradable polymer that is non-toxic to human blood vessel cells, produces low-inflammation and good wound healing characteristics, and yields healthy connective tissue integration within the material. This grant will establish the methods needed to use this novel polymer to regenerate replacement vascular grafts and the research will be validated with an animal model. The research will impact peripheral vascular disease by introducing a new approach to generating life-saving by-pass vessels.