Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2012

Mentor: Dr. Subhash Banerjee                   
Department:   Internal Medicine/Cardiovascular Disease           
Room number:   Veteran Affairs Hospital 5th Floor          
Mail Code:     111A  
Phone number:   (214) – 857 - 1608         
E-mail:   Subhash.Banerjee@UTSouthwestern.edu        
Project title:    PolarCath Cryoplasty versus Conventional Balloon Post-dilation of
                        Nitinol Stents for Peripheral Vascular Intervention           

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):       08-504

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):      

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects)

Brief Description of Project:

The overall project, being undertaken by Dr. Subhash Banerjee, is designed to test the efficacy of PolarCath cryoplasty compared to conventional balloon post-dilation for peripheral vascular intervention, particularly in diabetic patients.
            My role (medical student Ashish Singh) will be a subset of this larger project. I will determine the angiographic severity of large artery peripheral vascular disease in diabetic patients versus non-diabetic patients using the Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) classification. Specifically, I will examine 160 arteriograms (80 from diabetic patients and 80 from non-diabetic patients) and will classify their peripheral arterial disease in the iliac, superficial femoral and popliteal arteries according to the TASC guidelines.
            While it may be intuitive that there exists a positive correlation between diabetes and peripheral arterial disease, there are few sources that are able to present such a strong correlation, particularly in the larger peripheral vessels (iliac, superficial femoral, popliteal). The purpose of this research project will be to shed light on the cause behind the correlation between diabetes and large artery peripheral vascular disease as valuable data for the larger cryoplasty project being pursued.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

Relationship of walking impairment and ankle-brachial index assessments with peripheral arterial translesional pressure gradients.
Banerjee S, Badhey N, Lichtenwalter C, Varghese C, Brilakis ES.
J Invasive Cardiol. 2011 Sep;23(9):352-6.

Comparison of the impact of short (<1 year) and long-term (> or =1 year) clopidogrel use following percutaneous coronary intervention on mortality.
Banerjee S, Varghese C, Samuel J, Weideman RA, Little BB, Kelly KC, Rao SV, Reilly RF, Brilakis ES.
Am J Cardiol. 2008 Nov 1;102(9):1159-62. Epub 2008 Sep 11.

Cardiac MRI evaluation of infarct size with thrombus aspiration during ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
Varshney A, Martinez-Rumayor AA, Brilakis ES, Banerjee S.
J Invasive Cardiol. 2011 May;23(5):177-8. No abstract available.