UNO-Led Team Pioneers First Catheter-Based Treatment to Eliminate Arterial Calcium

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects more than 200 million people, and over 70% of them develop calcium deposits in their leg arteries – lesions that complicate every treatment and quadruple the risk of amputation. Yet no current therapy can remove this hardened calcium.

A team led by the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Department of Biomechanics – working in collaboration with vascular surgeons at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and scientists at Virginia Tech – is aiming to change that.

➡️ What’s new:

• The team led by Alexey Kamenskiy, Ph.D., director of UNO’s Center for Cardiovascular Research in Biomechanics, has received a $2.7 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant to develop a first-of-its kind local treatment for peripheral artery disease (PAD).
• Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Virginia Tech are partnering with UNO to test whether a localized EDTA chelation therapy can safely remove arterial calcium – a major cause of treatment failure, impaired blood flow, and amputation in PAD patients.

💡 Why it matters: Current PAD treatments — including angioplasty, stenting, bypass surgery, and atherectomy – can improve blood flow, but none can remove the hardened calcium embedded in the arterial wall. Calcification makes blood vessels rigid, difficult to dilate, and prone to dissection; it also causes severe kinking and flow loss when the leg bends. As a result, calcified lesions have far higher rates of complications, treatment failure, and amputation.

• The team’s approach uses a microneedle catheter to deliver EDTA directly into the calcified arterial wall, targeting the calcium itself rather than working around it. This localized delivery aims to remove calcium at its source while avoiding the dangerous systemic side effects associated with whole-body EDTA chelation.
• If successful, the project could enable the first therapy capable of directly removing arterial calcium and restoring vessel flexibility – a shift that could dramatically improve outcomes for patients with calcific PAD.

🎤 What they’re saying:

• Alexey Kamenskiy, Ph.D., Director of the UNO Center for Cardiovascular Research in Biomechanics (CRiB): “Our goal is to give physicians a safe, targeted way to remove arterial calcium and restore vessel compliance - something current treatments can’t achieve.”
• Jason N. MacTaggart, M.D., FACS, Professor, UNMC Department of Surgery: “This therapy could be life-changing for patients with severe PAD, offering a new, targeted method to improve artery function and prevent amputations.”
• John Eberth, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Tech: “By integrating human tissue analyses with in vitro experimentation and a novel preclinical model, we can establish a strong translational framework to connect basic science to effective real-world therapy.”

⚡️ What's next: The multi-year study (2025–2029) will begin with extensive testing on calcified human donor arteries to optimize dosing, delivery, and safety of the local EDTA therapy. These findings will then guide preclinical studies in large-animal swine model that closely replicates human peripheral artery calcification. If the approach proves safe and effective, the results will provide the critical foundation needed to advance toward first-in-human clinical trials.

📌 Award information:

• Funding source: National Institutes of Health
• Grant amount: $2,688,180
• Award #: R01HL180371