Clinical Research Directory

Duplex UltraSound afTer Endo Revascularisation - Feasibility Randomised Control Trial (DUSTER)

17, 000 people every year in the UK develop foot pain or wounds from blocked leg arteries. If left untreated, this can lead to amputation. Keyhole surgery is often used to balloon open the blockages before they can cause serious problems. However half of people over the next 2 years can develop further blockages, which can be identified by ultrasound scans of the leg arteries The aim of this clinical trial is to explore the benefits of regular ultrasound checks of the leg after keyhole surgery. In this study participants are randomly allocated to one of two groups. Half of participants will have standard clinic appointments with their vascular specialist at 1 month, 6 months and 12 months. The other half will have additional ultrasound scans of the leg arteries before their clinic appointments at 1, 6 and 12 months. We will then look at how many people attended the scans, whether the scans could be completed and how this affected decisions to have more surgery. At the end of the trial we will look at what happened to participants in both groups.