OREANDA-NEWS  Scientists from the Almazov National Medical Research Center (NMIC) have developed a new drug to combat pulmonary thrombosis and its consequences. Control and analysis of the test results were carried out by specialists using digital solutions of the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI", Andrey Karpov, head of the Research Institute of Pathology of the Small Circulatory Circle of the Almazov NMIC, reported on the results of the work of TASS.

"The results of preclinical tests show that the drug allows you to relieve symptoms, save the vessels of the lungs, and therefore prolong the life of the patient. With the help of the proposed compound, it is possible to prolong the patient's life for further preparation for the operation to remove a blood clot, " Andrey Karpov said.

In their work, the scientists focused on thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. The disease occurs in the body when important blood vessels become clogged in the lungs (thromboembolism), which, in turn, leads to a dangerous increase in pressure (pulmonary hypertension) and heart failure. Without proper treatment, the patient may die within a few years.

Specialists of the Almazov NMIC proposed using an inhibitor of special proteins - janus kinase, which were previously used in medicine for the treatment of other diseases by their nature, for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension. Studies of the drug were carried out on laboratory rats: scientists injected them with a medicinal substance, and then made 1883 micrographs of the pulmonary arteries of rodents in a section to evaluate the results.

LETI scientists have provided doctors with a special program designed for automatic analysis of images using artificial intelligence. As the developer of the program Ksenia Sanarova noted, the application made it possible to increase the speed of microphotography analysis three times, as well as the accuracy of work. With the help of the LETI application, the analysis of almost two thousand images took 5 days, whereas manually such a process would take 14 days.

Now a group of researchers is preparing to conduct clinical trials of the drug. The ultimate goal of the researchers is to bring it to the market as a drug for pulmonary hypertension. The scientific work is carried out within the framework of a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for major projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development (Agreement No. 075-15-2020-800).