RESEARCH INTERESTS:

• Developing new therapies for patients with peripheral arterial disease. These patients are at high risk of suffering from fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular ischemic events, and are also severely limited by claudication or critical leg ischemia. In this context, our research focuses on the following goals:

• Developing new antiplatelet and risk modifying strategies to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and death.
• Developing new pharmacologic approaches to treating intermittent claudication and critical leg ischemia.
• Dissemination of these findings to the patient population at risk.

• The second major research focus is understanding the pathophysiology of peripheral arterial disease in terms of the effects of muscle ischemia on muscle metabolism and function. These studies continue to focus on several altered metabolic pathways in ischemic skeletal muscle, including the metabolism of intermediates of oxidation, the accumulation of carnitine and acyl CoA intermediates, and derangements in electron transport chain function.

• The epidemiology of peripheral arterial disease remains a continued focus of the research program.

• The ability to conduct and coordinate large-scale clinical trials in patients with peripheral arterial disease.
• Steady state and kinetic measurements of oxygen uptake in humans.
• Measurements of peripheral blood flow.
• Muscle biopsy techniques.
• Access to numerous biochemical methodologies to assess skeletal muscle metabolism and function.

• Estacio RO, Jeffers BW, Hiatt WR, Biggerstaff MS, Gifford N, Schrier RW. The effect of nisoldipine as compared with enalapril on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with hypertension. N Engl J Med 1998;338:645-652.

• Bhat HK, Hiatt WR, Hoppel CL, Brass EP. Skeletal muscle mitochondrial DNA injury in patients with unilateral peripheral arterial disease. Circulation 1999;99:807-12.

• Nehler MR, Hiatt WR. Exercise therapy for claudication. Ann Vasc Surg 1999;13:109-14.

• Bauer TA, Regensteiner JG, Brass EP, Hiatt WR. Oxygen uptake kinetics during exercise are slowed in patients with peripheral arterial disease. J Appl Physiol 1999; 87(2):809-816.

• Labs KH, Dormandy JA, Jaeger KA, Stuerzebecher CS, Hiatt WR. Trans-Atlantic Conference on Clinical Trial Guidelines in PAOD (Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease) Clinical Trial Methodology. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 1999; 18:253-265.

• Brass EP, Wang H, Hiatt WR. Multiple skeletal muscle mitochondrial DNA deletions in patients with unilateral peripheral arterial disease. Vasc Med 2000;5(4):225-230.

• Brass EP, Hiatt WR, Gardner AW, Hoppel CL. Decreased NADH dehydrogenase and ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase in peripheral arterial disease. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2001;280:H603-H609.

• Hiatt WR. Treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease and Claudication. In Press, N Engl J Med.

• Hiatt WR, Regensteiner JG, Creager MA, Hirsch AT, Cooke JP, Olin JW, Gorbunov GN, Isner J, Lukjanov YV, Tsitsiashvili MS, Zabel’skaya TJ, Amato T. Propionyl-L-carnitine improves exercise performance and functional status in patients with claudication. In Press, Am J Med.

• President of the Colorado Prevention Center, a large clinical trials and prevention research center affiliated with the University of Colorado Denver. The focus of this organization is to perform large-scale, on-site and multi-site clinical trials in secondary prevention in patients with diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, and other forms of cardiovascular diseases.

I direct the medial programs for the treatment of patients with vascular diseases. These programs provide state-of-the-art care for patients with arterial and venous diseases. In addition, I coordinate clinical studies in developing new therapies for patients with arterial diseases in the lower extremities. This work involves developing new exercise treatment programs, as well as drug therapies for people with this disease.

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