Developing a new type of MRI scanner to study the human heart

The next leap in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: cycling the field

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a scanning technique that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce pictures of organs and tissues in the body. A fundamental principle of MRI is that the magnetic field remains fixed – usually at a high strength of 1.5 or 3 tesla (T) – and extremely stable during the scan. However, Professor Dana Dawson and her team at the University of Aberdeen have pioneered a type of MRI machine which sweeps rapidly through a range of low and ultra-low magnetic field strengths (from 0.2 T to 0.0002 T) during the same scan. This new technique is called Fast Field-Cycling MRI (FFC-MRI). FFC-MRI is able to reveal a wealth of information about living tissue which is invisible to conventional MRI scanners. Since the heart is continually beating and therefore moving, MRI scanners used to image the heart must be adapted with special hardware and more advanced data acquisition methods. In this BHF-funded project, Professor Dawson and her team will further develop the FFC-MRI scanner so it is able to perform heart imaging. The researchers initially aim to use the new heart scanner to distinguish healthy tissue from tissue damaged by a heart attack. FFC-MRI has the potential to reveal previously hidden information about the heart muscle and could significantly advance the way we diagnose and treat heart disease.