A prospective study of the effects of kidney transplantation on chronic kidney disease associated cardiomyopathy using magnetic resonance imaging (Dr Luke Pickup)
People with reduced kidney function are at increased risk of heart and circulatory diseases. This risk increases as someone’s kidney function declines, and is especially high in those with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Using heart scans, Professor Ferro’s team at the University of Birmingham has previously shown that people with reduced kidney function have increased blood vessel stiffness, enlarged hearts, scar tissue throughout their heart and molecules in their blood that indicate heart injury. These changes also seem to be linked to abnormalities in the levels of calcium and phosphate in the blood. In this fellowship, they will use heart MRI scans to study CKD patients before and one year after they receive a successful kidney transplant. They will compare them to patients who stay on dialysis to find out if these changes to the heart are reversible once kidney function has been restored by transplantation. They will also test whether improvements seen on the heart scans are accompanied by better control of calcium and phosphate levels in the blood. If these heart changes are reversed after a transplant, they will look at whether factors such as blood pressure are important in causing this change. The results could lead to new ways to reduce the risk of heart disease in people with chronic kidney disease.
Project details
| Grant amount | £291,405 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Fellowships |
| Application type | Clinical Research Training Fellowship |
| Start Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Duration | 3 years |
| Reference | FS/18/29/33554 |
| Status | In Progress |
