Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded Massachusetts General Hospital $802,936 on June 1, 2026, under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866) to develop and validate the TARGET (Thromboprophylaxis for Arterial Revascularization to Guide Elderly Therapy) protocol. This five-year project, concluding May 31, 2031, addresses a critical clinical need by personalizing post-surgical blood clot prevention for elderly patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) undergoing endovascular revascularization. The current standard-of-care thromboprophylaxis approaches achieve only an 80% success rate, with approximately 20% of patients experiencing post-surgical thrombosis—the leading cause of amputation in older adults. The TARGET protocol utilizes thromboelastography with platelet mapping (TEG-PM), a widely available point-of-care assay, to generate individualized coagulation profiles that enable clinicians to tailor thromboprophylaxis medications to each patient's specific coagulation characteristics, potentially reducing amputation rates and improving outcomes in an aging population particularly vulnerable to adverse events.

The research addresses significant health disparities, particularly for post-menopausal women who face double the risk of arterial thrombosis compared to men and experience elevated mortality following amputation. By replacing the current "one-size-fits-all" approach with data-driven personalized therapy selection, this project seeks to optimize the use of existing thromboprophylaxis medications including dual antiplatelet therapy and low-dose anticoagulation, thereby improving surgical outcomes and quality of life for elderly PAD patients over the five-year award period.