Research Themes
- Improving the safety of patients undergoing vascular treatments
- Simulation, training and generation of high performing teams
- Developing and understanding the role of new technologies to allow more patients to be treated with improved outcomes
- Defining the required technical and non-technical skills needed in vascular and endovascular procedures
- Outcomes research in Aortic Disease - Studies to understand the inequality that exists in outcome for men and women being treated for aortic conditions
- Aortic Clinical Studies/Trials:
- AARDVARK TRIAL (HTA funded), evaluating the role of ACE inhibitors to slow the growth of aneurysms.
- The IDEAS trial (HS&DR NIHR funded) - Incentives in Diabetic Eye Assessment by Screening (IDEAS) Trial assessed the effectiveness of different incentives to improve the attendance at screening.
- The Late aneurysm-related mortality up to 15 years, secondary endovascular repair late sac rupture risk and costs and cost-effectiveness implications in the United Kingdom EndoVascular Aneurysm Repair randomised controlled trials (funded by the Health Technology Assessment programme).
- The UK COMPASS Study (HTA funded), A large scale study to compare treatments for juxtarenal aneurysm repair is currently ongoing.
- The CLEVAR Registry (Industry funded, GORE), a multicentre evaluation of a novel, conformable EVAR graft, with the British Society of Endovascular Therapy.
- STAR - The Uptake, Clinical effectiveness, Acceptability and Cost effectiveness of 23-hour EVAR
Current Grants

The British Society of Endovascular Therapy -ConformabLe EndoVascular Aneurysm Repair Registry: A prospective, multi-centre, observational cohort study. Funding from WL GORE and associates. Principal Investigator: Colin Bicknell
An analysis of linked Secondary and Primary Healthcare datasets to evaluate the management of hypertension and its’ impact on long-term outcomes in patients with Type B aortic dissection in the United Kingdom. BRC Cardiovascular funding stream. Principal Investigator: Colin Bicknell
A Risk-adjusted and Anatomically Stratified Cohort Comparison Study of Open Surgery, Endovascular Techniques and Medical Management for Juxtarenal Aortic Aneurysms: The UK COMplex AneurySm Study (UK-COMPASS). Start date Jan 2017. NIHR HTA. Principal Investigator: Srinivasa Vallabhaneni, Co-investigator: Colin Bicknell