Developing magnetic resonance scanning methods for congenital heart disease

Development of cardiac MRI for assessing right ventricular diffuse myocardial fibrosis in congenital heart disease (Mr. Malte Rohl)

Supervised by Dr Peter Gatehouse, this PhD student is developing new scanning methods to monitor people born with congenital heart disease as they get older. Surgeons can repair most congenital heart defects, but patients still need to be monitored for life in case medications or further operations are needed. In people with tetralogy of Fallot, a type of congenital heart disease, the right side of the heart can become scarred, causing heart failure in adulthood. Currently, the only way to detect this scarring is to take a biopsy, which involves an invasive surgical procedure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners can measure heart health in a non-invasive way, but methods that evaluate the right hand side of the heart need to be better developed. The PhD student working with Dr Gatehouse will develop new MRI scanning methods to provide accurate information about scarring in the right side of the heart. They will test if these new imaging methods are as accurate as a heart biopsy in patient volunteers who are already having surgery, and whether they could be used to monitor people born with tetralogy of Fallot and other congenital heart disease. This research could lead to new ways to regularly monitor people born with heart abnormalities or other heart conditions during their lifetime. It could help doctors decide how and when to treat patients with congenital heart disease.