College of Medicine and Dentistry Potential diabetes breakthrough
Potential diabetes breakthrough
- Future Students
- JCU Global Experience
- International Students
- Open Day
- How to apply
- Pathways to university
- Virtual Open Day
- Living on Campus
- Courses
- Publications
- Scholarships
- Parents and Partners
- JCU Heroes Programs
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Marine Science
- Elite Athletes
- Defence
- Current Students
- New students
- JCU Orientation
- LearnJCU
- Placements
- CEE
- Unicare Centre and Unicampus Kids
- Graduation
- Off-Campus Students
- JCU Job Ready
- Safety and Wellbeing
- JCU Prizes
- Professional Experience Placement
- Employability Edge
- Art of Academic Writing
- Art of Academic Editing
- Careers and Employability
- Student Equity and Wellbeing
- Career Ready Plan
- Careers at JCU
- Partners and Community
- JCU-CSIRO Partnership
- Alumni
- About JCU
- Reputation and Experience
- Chancellery
- Governance
- Celebrating 50 Years
- Academy
- Indigenous Engagement
- Education Division
- Graduate Research School
- Research and Teaching
- Research Division
- Research and Innovation Services
- CASE
- College of Business, Law and Governance
- College of Healthcare Sciences
-
College of Medicine and Dentistry
-
Research
-
Project Portal
- CMD research project asset list
- Chronic Pelvic Pain Faecal Microbiome Study
- Service delivery strategies for rural/ remote allied health
- TREAD: Translational Research in Endocrinology and Diabetes 'Multiple projects'
- Australia's burden from peripheral artery disease
- Glucose control and outcome of peripheral revascularisation
- Outcome for abdominal aortic aneurysm admissions across Australia
- Diet and vascular disease
- Genetics of abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Biomarkers of aortic aneurysm and peripheral artery disease outcome
- Testing novel treatments for peripheral artery disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Clinical trials of novel treatments for peripheral artery disease, diabetes-related foot disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Multiple projects in Microbiology and infectious Diseases
- Piloting a continuous quality improvement framework to strengthen quality of care in Aboriginal residential aged care.
- Strengthening primary health care to promote healthy ageing and reduce risk factors associated with dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Multiple research opportunities in Psychiatry
- The role of partner dancing on biopsychosocial status of older adults and their significant others
-
Project Portal
- News & Stories
- Get Involved
- Short Courses & Professional Development
- Clinical Electives for Non-JCU students
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Pharmacy
- Making Rural Health Matter
- General Practice and Rural Medicine
- Northern Queensland Regional Training Hubs
- Contact us
- Learning and Teaching
-
Research
- College of Science and Engineering
- CPHMVS
- Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audiovisual Research (ALTAR)
- Anton Breinl Research Centre
- Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre (AgTAC)
- Advanced Analytical Centre
- AMHHEC
- Aquaculture Solutions
- AusAsian Mental Health Research Group
- ARCSTA
- Area 61
- Lions Marine Research Trust
- Australian Tropical Herbarium
- Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group
- Boating and Diving
- Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab
- Centre for Tropical Biosecurity
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology
- CITBA
- CMT
- Centre for Disaster Solutions
- CSTFA
- Cyclone Testing Station
- The Centre for Disaster Studies
- Daintree Rainforest Observatory
- Fletcherview
- JCU Eduquarium
- JCU Turtle Health Research
- Language and Culture Research Centre
- MARF
- Orpheus
- TESS
- JCU Ideas Lab
- TARL
- eResearch
- Indigenous Education and Research Centre
- Estate
- Work Health and Safety
- Staff
- Discover Nature at JCU
- Cyber Security Hub
- Association of Australian University Secretaries
- Services and Resources Division
- Environmental Research Complex [ERC]
- Foundation for Australian Literary Studies
- Gender Equity Action and Research
- General Practice and Rural Medicine
- Give to JCU
- Indigenous Legal Needs Project
- Inherent Requirements
- IsoTropics Geochemistry Lab
- IT Services
- JCU Webinars
- JCU Events
- JCU Motorsports
- JCU Sport
- Library
- Mabo Decision: 30 years on
- Marine Geophysics Laboratory
- Office of the Vice Chancellor and President
- Outstanding Alumni
- Pharmacy Full Scope
- Planning for your future
- Policy
- PAHL
- Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Rapid Assessment Unit
- RDIM
- Researcher Development Portal
- Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing
- Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
- State of the Tropics
- Strategic Procurement
- Student profiles
- SWIRLnet
- TREAD
- TropEco for Staff and Students
- TQ Maths Hub
- TUDLab
- UAV
- VAVS Home
- WHOCC for Vector-borne & NTDs
- Media
- Copyright and Terms of Use
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
- Pay review
![Professor Jon Golledge (left) and Dr Joseph Moxon.](https://www.jcu.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0003/476805/varieties/newsdetails.jpg)
Can a common diabetes drug slow aneurysm growth?
A new study by researchers at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) at James Cook University has found a common diabetes medication could limit the need for surgery in patients suffering from a potentially life threatening aneurysm.
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is a progressive ballooning in a weakened section of the body’s main artery, which increases the risk of arterial rupture and fatal bleeding. It kills approximately 1000 Australians per year, often without warning.
Currently patients with AAA are forced to wait for expensive and invasive surgery as their only option to treat the potentially life threatening condition.
However, in a recent study published in the British Journal of Surgery, AITHM researchers found that AAA growth rates were significantly lower in patients taking Metformin, a commonly prescribed anti-diabetes medication.
“No drugs have been shown to be effective in reducing AAA growth, meaning that patients have to undergo surgery once their aneurysm is considered to be at high risk of rupture,” says study co-author, Dr Joe Moxon.
“We measured AAA growth in patients using CT, or ultrasound scans and found that those on Metformin had significantly slower aneurysm growth rates.”
The results are an important step towards testing a new method of treating patients with AAA.
“The discovery of a drug to slow AAA growth has the potential to reduce the number of people requiring surgery, and improve patient quality of life by lowering anxiety levels associated with a life-threatening condition. With reduced access to specialist care, this has an even greater impact for those in rural and remote locations.
“Currently patients are told that they have an aneurysm growing inside them, however we are unable to do anything to help slow the process. Patients enter a ‘watchful waiting’ process to monitor their aneurysm, which can cause stress and anxiety, which impacts their mental and social wellbeing.
“Discovery of a medicine which effectively slows AAA growth could revolutionise patient management,” Dr Moxon says.
Lead researcher Professor Jon Golledge says further research is required to assess the effect of the drug in non-diabetic patients.
“Consistent previous research findings suggest that diabetes protects against AAA growth. There are a number of suggested reasons for this including the fact the people with diabetes have stiffer arteries which are resistant to the weakening process.
However, recently it has been suggested that this protective effect may actually be due to the medications that patients take to control their blood sugar levels.
“Our data suggest that Metformin may be associated with slower AAA growth, although this is difficult to discern since all patients taking Metformin also have diabetes. We want to see whether our observations of slower AAA growth in patients receiving Metformin reflect a true drug effect or are simply the result of diabetes. To do this, it’s necessary to conduct a well-designed randomised control trial in AAA patients who do not have diabetes.
“If successful, identifying a drug that slows AAA growth will have profound implications for patients.
“It would be incredibly beneficial to find an inexpensive and accessible drug to provide a proactive treatment option rather than waiting for surgical intervention,” Professor Golledge says.
The study was published in the British Journal of Surgery and undertaken by researchers at the Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease based at James Cook University.