Hyperpolarised lung MRI post surgery & mechanical ventilation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of the microstructure and functional changes in the lung before and after major abdominal surgery and mechanical ventilation, using functional hyperpolarised helium and xenon magnetic resonance imaging.
IRAS ID
188674
Contact name
Gary H Mills
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Lung related problems such as pneumonia are probably the most common major group of complications after a surgical operation and contribute significantly to the 4% mortality seen after major surgery. The lungs are affected by surgery, which may cause problems due to pain and areas of collapsed lung, as well as inflammation that affects many organs. Anaesthesia causes collapse of lower areas in the lung, impairs the drive to breathe and mechanical ventilation (which is essential for most major surgery) may lead to over inflation of some upper areas in the lung. Studies have looked at how best to ventilate patients to reduce these problems, but much remains unclear.
The aim of this study is to use new functional magnetic resonance scanning techniques, which include imaging with helium and xenon to examine how the lungs are working and how gases are passing to the small blood vessels in the lungs. This will give us insight into problems in different regions of the lung and may help with the development of future treatments.
We aim to study 14 patients, before, approximately 7 days after surgery and at 2 months after surgery. We will record lung function tests, breathlessness scores, lung images using electrical impedance tomography (EIT), which is a bedside noninvasive test and magnetic resonance imaging using hyperpolarised helium and xenon (MRHX). These imaging techniques will enable us to look at the changes in sizes of the small air-passages in the different regions of the lungs and the links between them, oxygen levels and uptake across the membrane between small blood vessels and the small air sacks in the lung, as well as how the blood flow is distributed in the lungs.
These techniques will provide important new data regarding how lungs are damaged and then recover after major abdominal surgery.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0402
Date of REC Opinion
5 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion