ROCHESTER, Minn., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded Minnesota's Mayo Clinic $11 million for a five-year study of kidney disease associated with atherosclerosis.
The grant is designed to find new and improved ways to diagnose and treat the condition that involves the clogging, narrowing and hardening of arteries, specifically one or both renal arteries. The condition affects nearly 7 percent of people 65 years old and older and people with renal vascular disease are at greater risk of morbidity or mortality associated with coronary heart disease, researchers said.
The study will be led by Dr. J. Carlos Romero and will include four studies involving specialists in physiology and biomedical engineering, nephrology and hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, renal pathophysiology, transplantation biology, radiology and vascular interventional radiology.
"We will show how the disease is complicated by atherosclerosis, and we will attempt to determine the best way to apply our findings to humans," said Romero.
