Testing a cutting-edge MRI scan to detect coronary heart disease

Perfusion mapping in ischaemic heart disease (Dr Kristopher Knott)

Coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs when plaque builds up in the blood vessels that supply the heart, reducing blood flow to heart muscle. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the tests used to diagnose CHD and to assess which patients would benefit from revascularisation – opening up blocked vessels or bypass grafting. An MRI can look at the heart without exposing patients to radiation or needing surgery. A chemical is used to stress the heart and pictures are created to show if the heart muscle receives enough blood when under stress. However, it has not until now been possible to measure how much blood flow reaches the heart muscle, only that one part of the heart has less blood flow than another. But physicists in the USA have developed a way to exactly measure the blood flow to the heart muscle with MRI. Now, Professor Moon and collaborators, including BHF Professor Sven Plein, wish to test this technology in the UK. They hope it will be a more accurate way of assessing blood flow through patients’ coronary arteries, avoiding unnecessary invasive angiograms. In this study the team will test this brand new kind of MRI scan on healthy volunteers and patients with CHD. They aim to show that the method is safe, accurate and the results can be interpreted consistently by different doctors. They hope that the technique can become a better way of identifying patients who need treatment for coronary heart disease.