The team’s technology uses MRI to create detailed 4D flow images of the heart and shaves up to 12 minutes off the time it takes to perform a scan, a procedure that requires the patient to lay perfectly still in a confined space..
The results are claimed to provide a precise image of the heart valves and blood flow inside the heart, helping doctors determine the best course of treatment for patients. The team’s findings are published in European Radiology Experimental.
In a statement, lead researcher Dr Pankaj Garg, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at NNUH, said: “Heart failure is a dreadful condition resulting from rising pressures inside the heart. The best method to diagnose heart failure is by invasive assessment, which is not preferred as it has risks.
“An ultrasound scan of the heart called echocardiography is routinely used to measure the peak velocity of blood flow through the mitral valve of the heart. However, this method can be unreliable.
“We have been researching one of the most cutting-edge methods of flow assessment inside the heart called 4D flow MRI. In 4D flow MRI, we can look at the flow in three directions over time - the fourth dimension.”
MORE FROM MEDICAL & HEALTHCARE
PhD student Hosamadin Assadi, also from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “This new technology is revolutionising how patients with heart disease are diagnosed. However, it takes up to 20 minutes to carry out a 4D flow MRI and we know that patients do not like having long MRI scans.
“So, we collaborated with General Electric Healthcare to investigate the reliability of a new technique that uses super-fast methods to scan the flow in the heart, called Kat-ARC. We found that this halves the scanning time.”
Assadi continued: “We have also shown how this non-invasive imaging technique can measure the peak velocity of blood flow in the heart accurately and precisely.”
The team tested the new Kat-ARC 4D heart flow MRI technology with 50 patients at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Garg said: “This technology…will benefit hospitals and patients across the whole world.”
The project was funded by the Wellcome Trust. It was led by researchers at UEA in collaboration with NNUH, Sheffield University, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Dundee University, GE Healthcare in Germany, Pie Medical Imaging in the Netherlands, and Singapore’s National Heart Centre and Duke-NUS Medical School.
IEA report claims batteries are ‘changing the game’
Oh I don't know. The typical waiting time outside of A&E for admitting patients would give them plenty of time to recharge … ?