Clinical trial NCT06416371: Retinal Vessel Leakage in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease
Official title: Retinal Vessel Leakage in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: a Sub-study of the Mild Stroke Study 3
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases
Lacunar Stroke
Vascular Dementia
Lead sponsor: University of Edinburgh
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-05-16
Enrollment: 40
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Adults \>18 years old with mild ischaemic stroke with a modified Rankin scale (mRS) greater or equal to 2 at recruitment presenting to Edinburgh/Lothian stroke services.

For details see Clancy, et al (2021) Rationale and design of a longitudinal study of cerebral small vessel diseases, clinical and imaging outcomes in patients presenting with mild ischaemic stroke: Mild Stroke Study 3. European Stroke Journal 6:81-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/2396987320929617

Brief summary: The goal of this observational study is to learn about leakage from retinal vessels in cerebral small vessel disease. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does retinal vessel leakage occur in cerebral small vessel disease?
* If it does, is the severity of retinal vessel leakage similar to the severity of cerebral small vessel disease generally?

Participants will be tested using fluorescein angiography. This involves an intravenous injection of fluorescent dye, and is a very sensitive way to find leakage from retinal blood vessels.

Participants will have already had brain scans and other examinations and tests to measure the severity of their cerebral small vessel disease. Our new retinal images will complement the information from these previous tests.

Detailed description: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a common cause of stroke and dementia. The molecular causes are unclear, limiting new therapies. Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is characteristic and may damage brain tissue. However, specialist MRI scans to measure BBB breakdown are expensive and time-consuming.

In contrast, measuring leakage from retinal blood vessels is relatively simple. The blood-retina barrier is very similar to the BBB, and SVD is likely to damage retinal and brain blood vessels in the same way. If so, then retinal angiography could be used to study SVD pathogenesis and measure the effect of new treatments with much greater resolution and lower cost than MRI.

We have three aims:

1. Test the feasibility of fluorescein angiography in people with SVD
2. Discover if retinal vessel leakage occurs people with SVD
3. Discover whether the severity of retinal vessel leakage is associated with clinical features of SVD

We will recruit participants from a well-established cohort of people with SVD - the Mild Stroke Study 3 (MSS3).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Membership in the Mild Stroke Study 3 cohort
* Contrast enhanced MRI within 12 months
* Clear optical media in both eyes, as assessed by study investigator
* Best corrected visual acuity (near vision) ≥N36

Exclusion Criteria:

* Any condition known to cause retinal leakage (i.e., worse than background diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, active uveitis, wet age-related macular degeneration, malignant hypertension)
* Previous treatment for retinal leakage (retinal laser, intravitreal anti-VEGF)
* Recent eye surgery
* Shallow anterior chambers as assessed by torch test
* Pregnancy, renal failure
* Severe dementia
* Known allergy to fluorescein
* History of allergy such as food or drug induced urticaria or history of bronchial asthma
* Any other severe or acute medical or psychiatric conditions
* Inability to give informed consent

Primary outcomes:
measure: Retinal vessel leakage by automated segmentation
timeFrame: within one angiogram
measure: Retinal vessel leakage by manual grading
timeFrame: within one angiogram
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Baseline blood-brain barrier breakdown
timeFrame: Within one MRI scan
measure: White matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume adjusted for brain volume
timeFrame: Within one MRI scan
measure: Change in white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume adjusted for brain volume
timeFrame: Difference in MRI scans up to 5 years prior
measure: Fazekas score
timeFrame: Within one MRI scan
measure: Change in Fazekas score
timeFrame: Difference in MRI scans up to 5 years prior
measure: Baseline average leakage in white matter hyperintensities
timeFrame: Within one MRI scan
measure: Baseline average leakage in deep grey matter
timeFrame: Within one MRI scan
measure: Baseline number of leakage hotspots
timeFrame: Within one MRI scan
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Edinburgh
country: United Kingdom
facility: NHS Lothian
Study officials:
References:
citation: Clancy U, Garcia DJ, Stringer MS, Thrippleton MJ, Valdes-Hernandez MC, Wiseman S, Hamilton OK, Chappell FM, Brown R, Blair GW, Hewins W, Sleight E, Ballerini L, Bastin ME, Maniega SM, MacGillivray T, Hetherington K, Hamid C, Arteaga C, Morgan AG, Manning C, Backhouse E, Hamilton I, Job D, Marshall I, Doubal FN, Wardlaw JM. Rationale and design of a longitudinal study of cerebral small vessel diseases, clinical and imaging outcomes in patients presenting with mild ischaemic stroke: Mild Stroke Study 3. Eur Stroke J. 2021 Mar;6(1):81-88. doi: 10.1177/2396987320929617. Epub 2020 Jun 5.
citation: MacCormick IJ, Maude RJ, Beare NA, Borooah S, Glover S, Parry D, Leach S, Molyneux ME, Dhillon B, Lewallen S, Harding SP. Grading fluorescein angiograms in malarial retinopathy. Malar J. 2015 Sep 24;14:367. doi: 10.1186/s12936-015-0897-7.