Routine MRI measurements as accurate as invasive testing for heart failure
Routine MRI scans could soon help patients avoid invasive cardiac testing, according to new research.
Right heart catheterization is routinely used to measure oxygen levels in the blood. This helps providers gauge the severity of a patient’s heart failure. While effective, the test requires an incision, and certain patients, such as those who are older or severely ill, are at increased risk of adverse events.
New research from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, suggests that measurements of blood oxygen acquired via T2 mapping during routine MRI could provide the same information as catheterization procedures.
“We wanted to develop a safe, noninvasive alternative, which could allow far more patients to be properly assessed—and allow repeat monitoring without the risks of a catheter test,” said lead researcher Pankaj Garg, MD, a consultant cardiologist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. “Our breakthrough could be a game changer for assessing advanced heart failure."
Garg noted that blood with different oxygen levels behaves differently within a magnetic field. By measuring its reaction during an MRI, researchers were able to develop a formula that calculates oxygen readings.
The team first tested their formula on a cohort of 60 patients who had completed both cardiac MRI and right heart catheterization. The blood oxygen levels calculated using T2 mapping were in line with those acquired via catheterization. This prompted the team to expand their research to 628 individuals with newly diagnosed heart failure.
Those patients underwent MRI scans and were closely followed for three years. During that time, the team observed associations between those with healthier MRI-derived oxygen readings and better overall health outcomes; those individuals were less likely to be hospitalized or die due to reasons related to heart failure, regardless of their age or other health conditions.
“This means we may be able to read off a crucial hemodynamic number from an everyday scan—effectively turning a routine MRI into a much more powerful test, without putting a tube into the heart,” suggested senior author of the study Peter Swoboda, PhD, from the University of Leeds.
Though the research shows promise for expanding access to cardiac diagnostics, the team acknowledges that more work is needed on larger sample sizes before the formula can be deployed in real-world settings.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.