An observational study in AORTIC VALVE DISEASES and Calcification; Heart, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-16.
Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Observational
This is a prospective study that aims to develop clinical calculators that will report on the underlying rate of aortic valve calcification. To do so, baseline 18FNaF PET/CT will be obtained to measure AS disease activity and the rate of active microcalcification. Using these data, multi-omics prediction models and calculator tools will be developed to provide an index of ongoing disease activity (active calcification). Follow-up imaging (both echo and CT) will be performed one year after baseline imaging to assess progression. We will test the hypothesis that baseline disease activity (as reported by the predictor models and calculators) is associated with the rate of annualized AS progression in two cohorts (the same cohort using subsequent imaging, as well as the Population Study's cohorts).
Structural imaging modalities, such as echocardiography (echo) and computed tomography (CT), measure the structural consequences of aortic valvular calcification and have proven invaluable for grading AS severity. However, these techniques cannot capture the dynamic microcalcification processes that drive the underlying disease and have proven insufficient for predicting AS progression. In contrast, molecular imaging with 18F-NaF positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-NaF PET/CT) is the gold-standard method for noninvasively measuring the central pathophysiological process driving the progression of AS. This imaging approach uses 18F-sodium fluoride, a tracer that binds preferentially to hydroxyapatite in regions of developing microcalcification. This enables quantification of microcalcification activity (which precedes visible macrocalcification) and provides insights into the underlying disease activity that drives AS progression. Notably, optimized protocols for 18F-NaF PET/CT yield a reproducible biomarker to track disease activity and predict progression. Furthermore, recent advances in PET technology (such as total-body PET scanners) have improved sensitivity by 10- to 40-fold, further enhancing the quantification of the microcalcification rate underlying AS progression.
Overall, the assessment of microcalcification activity shifts the focus from static anatomical assessments to measurement of the dynamic pathological process driving AS progression. However, while 18F-NaF PET/CT is unsuitable for routine clinical use (because it is costly and currently limited to research applications), it can be effectively leveraged to train predictive models and deploy them as clinical calculators to estimate the rate of microcalcification from readily available biomarker data. The resulting clinical models and calculators could greatly enhance clinical care by identifying patients at risk of rapid progression, refining risk stratification and prognostic accuracy, and opening avenues for personalized monitoring and treatment in calcific AS.
The overarching goal of this Clinical Imaging Study is to develop novel predictive models and clinical calculators that capture AS microcalcification activity and forecast the risk of progressive aortic valve stenosis among participants with mild-to-moderate AS. The investigators will achieve this by performing advanced multimodality imaging, including 18F-NaF PET/CT, to quantify microcalcification activity in deeply phenotyped patients using clinical, imaging, and blood plasma biomarkers. Computational approaches, including AI tools, will identify optimal combinations of imaging and non-imaging predictors of microcalcification activity. The investigators will then develop accessible clinical calculators and test the hypothesis that these models and calculators enhance identification of rapid progressors through cross-validation and external validation in the Population Project cohort (which undergoes identical biomarker phenotyping).
234 studies on the registry are indexed under Aortic Valve Disease; 70 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 100 is below the median of 200 across 106 observational studies indexed under Aortic Valve Disease.
Browse Aortic Valve Disease studies →Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,586 studies on the registry; 447 are open to participants now.
Of its 222 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 168 (76%) have results posted.
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100 subjects with mild or moderate aortic stenosis
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Mild or moderate aortic stenosis noted on imaging and not expected to undergo treatment of the aortic valve over the next year.
rate of AS progression
change of echo- and CT-derived AS measures
Time frame: One year
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: Undecided
Start is estimated for Sep 2026; primary completion for Mar 2030, 42 months later.
Of 47 non-industry observational studies under Aortic Valve Disease, half reached primary completion within 49 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 23 and three quarters within 147. This study's planned 42 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 56 studies reached it within 49 months; a quarter within 23 and three quarters within 97.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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