LICAMM our research
Cardiac Magnetic Resonance
We have been awarded over £21 million in external grant income over the last 10 years in the field of cardiovascular imaging. We have particular strength in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) or CMR for short. CMR allows detailed information about the heart structure and function, all obtained without invasive tests. It has become a critical component of the clinical care of patients with cardiovascular disease.
Our BHF-funded, CE-MARC (Clinical Evaluation of MAgnetic Resonance imaging in Coronary heart disease) study demonstrated that CMR out-performed nuclear cardiology based imaging (MPS-SPECT) in terms of diagnostic accuracy, cost-effectiveness and prognostic ability, with high impact publications in The Lancet 2012, Circulation 2014, and Annals of Internal Medicine 2016. We followed up this finding with CE-MARC 2 trial, again funded by the BHF. This was a UK multi-centre, 3-way randomised trial comparing CMR with MPS-SPECT and the UK NICE guidelines for patients with stable chest pain. CMR resulted in less unnecessary angiography compared to standard care (published in the Journal of the American Medical Association 2016) driving a change in European and US chest pain management guidelines.
Professor Sven Plein now leads our state-of-the-art clinical MRI research facility including the £7.4 million MRC/BHF/ARUK/University of Leeds-funded Advanced Imaging Centre housed within the Leeds General Infirmary, Professor John Greenwood directs our Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility and Professor Jurgen Schneider leads our £2.4 million BHF/University of Leeds-funded multi-modality Bruker experimental and Preclinical Imaging Centre establishing us as a key centre for future CMR research.
Example Investigators:
Professor Alejandro Frangi
Professor David Buckley
Professor John Greenwood
Professor Jurgen Schneider
Professor Sven Plein
Dr Erica Dall’Armellina
Dr Eylem Levelt
Dr Irvin Teh
Dr Malenka Bissel
Dr Peter Swoboda