Final Report Summary - ACCELCMR (Accelerated myocardial perfusion, metabolic and contractile cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging)
Executive Summary:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death worldwide and the costs due to CVD are increasing. Early detection and correct treatment of CVD is therefore important and research on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) for imaging of myocardial viability, perfusion and contractility has been intensified. With the advent of hyperpolarization methods, an opportunity for probing metabolism in the in-vivo heart with high resolution has emerged. The hyperpolarization is short-lived, however, and requires imaging with high scan efficiency during a short time window.
The objective of this research proposal was to develop in-vivo metabolic imaging by exploiting and furthering latest technology developed for CMR scan acceleration and carbon hyperpolarization at the University and ETH Zurich.
This project has now been completed, and the main results achieved are:
* Polarization levels for carbon-13 labeled pyruvate have been improved
* Accelerated imaging techniques for perfusion imaging, metabolic imaging and contractile functional imaging have been developed, optimized and evaluated. Specifically, the progress of this project has enabled faster imaging techniques that exploit undersampling techniques, and new excitation and readout schemes that optimize signal sampling.
These results can potentially enhance further studies with metabolic imaging of the heart. Insight into the mechanisms of metabolism during ischemia may provide valuable knowledge in how to treat and diagnose patients with ischemia. Specifically it might solve unanswered questions regarding reperfusion injury. These effects are important keys in limiting the mortality and costs of coronary heart disease, one of the most prevalent diseases in the western world today.