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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Other forms of heart diseaseInflammatory polyarthropathiesSystemic connective tissue disorders
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Autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRD) are conditions where the body attacks its own organs. The immune system is the body’s defence system. It fights infections and protects against germs, bacteria or viruses. In AIRD, this becomes faulty and the body’s defences mistakenly attack healthy parts of the body. When the heart is involved, heart attacks, heart failure, heart rhythm problems and sudden death can occur. The presence of inflamed heart muscle in AIRD is reported more frequently in post-mortem studies than clinically. We are potentially under-recognising and under-treating this complication.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a painless and safe test that takes pictures of the body. However, current MRI techniques have significant limitations. Firstly, in order to create high-quality pictures, patients are required to hold their breath several times for multiple lengths of time. They often struggle with this due to underlying heart/lung problems. This can adversely affect the overall quality and image interpretation. Secondly, current techniques create 2D images that are potentially underestimating the presence and severity of any tissue inflammation/ injury.
Biomedical engineers, physicists and doctors have developed new MRI techniques to scan the heart in 3D and detect inflammation using a free-breathing approach.
The research will be conducted at Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust by doctors with a specialised interest in MRI and inflammatory heart muscle disease. We will recruit patients with suspected heart muscle inflammation. Participants will undergo an MRI scan on one visit, where we would run both current and novel techniques. Pictures from old and new methods would be compared anonymously by 2 independent doctors. The accuracy of both sequences will be compared using appropriate statistical methods. We will also look at whether these techniques result in a higher proportion of diagnostic scans as they are potentially applicable to other heart diseases.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
Observational type: Validation of investigation /therapeutic procedures;
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
Atrial fibrillation, contraindications to CMR (e.g., non-conditional intracardiac devices), contraindications to contrast (e.g., history of allergy to gadolinium), age < 18 years old or > 85 years, patients whose physical or mental condition indicates that the additional time in the MRI scanner should be minimised.
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
The study is sponsored by King's College London and funded by BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION .
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Read full details
for Trial ID: CPMS 46884
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