The National Institutes of Health has awarded Naren Vyavahare $1.47 million to advance research into abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA).

According to Clemson University’s publication The Newsstand, AAA are one of the top 10 killers for men older than 55. When they rupture, the aneurysms are fatal 75 to 90 percent of the time without immediate hospitalization.

Vyavahare, who currently holds the Hunter Endowed Chair of Bioengineering, notes that his work is at least 10 years from market. He hopes that when his work is available it will be able to ease anxiety and prevent surgery for thousands of patients. As of now, there are more than 70,000 surgeries performed for AAA each year.

There will be two approaches to his research, both that will use specifically engineered nanoparticles that are 250-fold smaller than the width of a human hair and circulate through the bloodstream.

The first aim will be to develop a new treatment using nanoparticles that would attach to the aneurysm and deliver the chemical compound pentagalloyl glucose. The second aim is to improve diagnoses using gold nanoparticles to develop a new way of creating medical images that could identify aneurysms’ weak spots, helping tell if surgery is necessary.