Leicester Clinical Trials Unit
Aortic stenosis (AS), is a common condition in which one of the four heart valves narrows over many years. When a valve becomes narrow, it can reduce the flow of blood through the heart and the body. Symptoms can include shortness of breath and chest pain; these can take years to develop and some patients never develop symptoms at all. Patients who do have symptoms can have the valve replaced. This works really well, but as with any medical procedure, there is a chance of complications, and it can take a long time to recover. Some heart specialists believe that replacing the valve before symptoms develop may be better than the more conventional approach of performing the AVR once symptoms develop.
This international study is investigating whether it is better for patients with severe AS but no symptoms to have AVR straight away or to wait until symptoms develop before this is done. The results will also tell us which option is more cost effective for the health service because at present we do not know.
The trial is expected to recruit until 30 September 2026 with the trial end date to be March 2031.
Meet the team
Chief investigators and lead
Chief Investigator UK
- Professor Gerry McCann
Chief Investigator Australia
- Professor Graham Hillis
New Zealand Lead
- Professor Ralph Stewart
Trial coordination: Leicester Clinical Trials Unit (LCTU)
Head of Trial Management
- Carla Richardson
Senior Trial Manager
- Michael Walters
Senior International Trial Manager
- Michelle Elbashir
Senior Statistician
- Shaun Barber
Database Development Manager
- Theresia Bonsell
Clinical Research Fellow
- Dr Saadia Aslam
Trial Coordinator
- Dania Tapia Aguirre
Trial Administrator
- Sue Parish
Information for researchers
- Protocol
- Consent forms
- Other patient facing documents
- CRFs
- Biomarker sub-study documents
- Clinical resource
- FAQs/hints and tips
- Publications and authorship policy
- Rationale and design of the early valve replacement in severe asymptomatic aortic stenosis trial
- Is asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis still a waiting game?
- Asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis - should we wait?
International participants
EASY-AS originally opened in the UK and this was quickly followed with both Australia and New Zealand also participating. Both Australia and New Zealand add independent funding to that of the UK as well as their own sponsors.
An agreement was reached with the British Heart Foundation to open up this trial to more international collaborators and in August 2023 we opened a site in Serbia, with the University of Leicester as the sponsor. Since then we have now opened a further 3 sites in Belgium and are looking at a number of other international countries to participate in the trial.
We are very excited to make this trial accessible internationally and this will hopefully provide us with even more evidence of the best treatment for asymptomatic patients with Severe Aortic Stenosis. If you are in a country that would like to consider participating in the EASY-AS trial, please email us at easyas@leicester.ac.uk.