MRI system set to identify new heart risk factors to enable earlier treatment and prevention at Royal Brompton
Royal Brompton Hospital in London, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, has marked two decades of partnership with Siemens Healthineers with the first UK installation of a Magnetom Cima.X MRI system. The system enables novel heart scanning techniques using diffusion-weighted imaging. One objective of the team’s cardiac diffusion imaging research is to define the microarchitecture of the heart to enable a deeper understanding of how it works in three dimensions at a microscopic level. The technique will help identify new ways to assess the risk of heart attacks, congenital heart disease and cardiomyopathy, enabling earlier treatments and preventing heart attacks and death.
The team has already carried out extensive research using diffusion cardiovascular MRI (CMR) to reveal how the cells of the heart are arranged and depict the full architecture of the heart muscle. Using the scanner, the team will be able to combine diffusion technique, AI and computer modelling to establish the relationship between the complex heart micro- structure and how the heart contracts and pumps blood, this will be the first of this type of research. The programme will also look at how to apply new display techniques using holograms for immersive 3D visualisation with virtual reality.
Picture: The Magnetom Cima.X MRI system from Siemens Healthineers.
See the full report on page 6 of the September 2024 issue of RAD Magazine.