CMR 4D Flow in Lung Transplant Assessment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) quantification of 4D flow in patients undergoing assessment for lung transplantation.
IRAS ID
270554
Contact name
Joyce Wong
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Advanced lung failure is a life-threatening condition for which only lung transplantation offers long-term survival. Lung failure frequently causes reduced blood flow and increased blood pressure within the lung arteries (pulmonary hypertension). This increases work done by the right side of the heart pumping blood through the lungs – the right side of the heart may therefore fail. This increase in lung artery blood pressures, as well as any right heart failure, affects risks of death before transplantation, risk of anaesthesia, and the benefit patients receive from lung transplantation.
We need to better understand the impact of lung failure on the performance of the right heart, optimise the care of patients with this condition, and understand which patients require lung transplantation most urgently. Four-dimensional blood flow cardiac magnetic resonance
imaging (4D flow CMR) allows calculation of the kinetic energy (energy associated with motion) of blood flowing within the heart; abnormal measurements have previously been noted in patients with abnormal heart function.This study aims to see whether these four dimensional flow scans of the heart can help us understand the function of specifically the right side of the heart in patients with lung failure, and whether any heart damage detected improves after transplantation. Further aims include comparing kinetic energy changes with the severity of the patients’ clinical condition, and their other tests results. We propose to perform four dimensional flow scans of the heart in patients undergoing lung transplantation assessment, collect relevant clinical data, and compare this information to any changes in the lung tissue removed during transplantation.
A similar four-dimensional flow scan of the heart will be conducted on healthy volunteers, and compared to scans from patients who are being assessed for lung transplantation.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/WM/0108
Date of REC Opinion
21 May 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion