The Sarcopenia Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Imaging assessment of Sarcopenia across the Heart Failure spectrum
IRAS ID
326878
Contact name
Gerry McCann
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 3 months, 28 days
Research summary
Heart failure is a complex condition which affects the hearts’ ability to pump blood around the body properly. Due to this complexity, it often affects multiple systems in the body and can impact the quality of life. A proportion of heart failure patients also have muscle weakness, where one can feel fatigued, and weak, and may have trouble balancing and standing. To characterise muscle weakness, it is important to look at skeletal muscle mass, strength, and function.
The study will focus on the prevalence of reduced muscle strength or function, using a variety of assessments within patients with heart failure. The prevalence of muscle weakness will be investigated by running assessments to look into muscle strength, we will run a series of simple exercise tests of the calf and thigh, in addition to a walking test, a balance test and a standing test to assess whole body performance. To look at the quality of skeletal muscle, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy session will allow us to investigate the quality of the thigh muscle and the energetics in the calf. Finally, a muscle biopsy will be performed to understand differences in muscle tissue in people with different types of heart failure.
Overall, this study will provide us with unique information on skeletal muscle strength, composition and energetics within patients with heart failure, by looking at the main factors which characterise muscle weakness.REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
23/WA/0220
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion