Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine received a $1.1 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute—a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—to develop and evaluate imaging methods for diagnosing peripheral arterial disease (PAD) that do not rely on gadolinium.
CT angiography (CTA) and contrast-enhanced MR angiography (MRA) are the standard imaging modalities for diagnosing PAD, but both depend on contrast dyes, meaning they cannot be used in patients with chronic kidney disease.
To combat this problem, research lead Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD, of the CWRU School of Medicine, and colleagues are looking to develop new non-contrast-enhanced MRA methods.
“A non-contrast-enhanced MRA would be ideal in such patients and certainly has demonstrated promising results,” said Rajagopalan in a prepared statement. “However, current MRA methods have problems that limit their widespread clinical applicability, including undesired suppression of signals, making the blockage look worse than it is.”
Rajagopalan and colleagues will specifically look to employ the Fourier-based, velocity-selective magnetization preparation, which “magnetically labels/tags flowing blood and generates paired images of the target tissue under ‘control’ and ‘tagged’ conditions." Their method can also suppress background tissues without affecting arterial blood for more robust images.
The researchers will also investigate the feasibility of high-rate scan acceleration using compressed sensing combined with parallel imaging in the calf.
“The techniques developed in the proposed project will have high applicability to other medical procedures, including venography, vessel wall imaging and perfusion imaging,” the statement concluded.
As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.