Upright MRI in Lung Disease

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Upright Magnetic Resonance Imaging in COPD and Diaphragm Disease

• IRAS ID

  243925

• Contact name

  Shahideh Safavi

• Contact email

  shahideh.safavi@nottingham.ac.uk

• ISRCTN Number

  ISRCTN00000000

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  NCT00000000

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 11 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  The diaphragm is the main muscle assisting breathing. This study aims to assess the use of MRI in patients with diaphragmatic weakness and patients with COPD who have hyperinflation. In some patients with COPD, air gets trapped in the lungs and causes them to expand too much; this is called hyperinflation. These patient report severe breathlessness, which may be in part because of their diaphragm. We know that posture impacts our lung function and breathing and we want to assess the effect of posture on the diaphragm. Currently, lung function tests and CT or ultrasound scan are the main tests we use to check how the diaphragm works. Recently, at University of Nottingham, we have developed an imaging approach using an upright MRI that lets us test patients in lying position and seated/standing in the same scanner. This may help us test the diaphragm position and shape more accurately and check the effects of posture on the diaphragm. This may help us better understand the relationship between postural changes in diaphragm position and shape and symptoms.
  The study will take place at the clinical research MRI centre at Nottingham Medical School, which is next to Queen’s Medical Centre. We want to recruit healthy volunteers, patients with diaphragmatic weakness and patients with COPD whose lungs are hyperinflated. The study will last 2 years, and the participants are asked to attend the imaging centre only once, where they will give consent and will be scanned at the same visit, which is expected to take 2 hours to complete. They will be scanned on two scanners: lying and seated/standing in the new upright scanner and lying in a conventional scanner. We will not use any contrast for imaging, i.e. participants will not be injected with a dye and they will breathe air.

• REC name

  Wales REC 6

• REC reference

  18/WA/0148

• Date of REC Opinion

  2 May 2018

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion