Cardiac MRI Can Predict Future Heart Failure

A new study suggests that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used after a heart attack to monitor heart muscle bleeding, which happens in phases.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow (United Kingdom) used MRI and computer techniques to generate three-dimensional (3D) images of models of both healthy and injured beating hearts. They used the same methods to scan heart-attack patients two days, three months, and one year after the attack. The data was then used to create computer models that can predict potential bleeding in the heart, based on information from MRI scans.


The models showed that the bleeding in the heart occurs in two phases, the first 12 hours after a heart attack and the second 2-3 days later. Essentiality, the researchers claim that an MRI scan following a heart attack could be used to monitor bleeding from the heart, providing a window of opportunity to introduce treatments to stop the second phase, which can help to reduce or even prevent later heart failure. The study was presented at the British Cardiovascular Conference, held during June 2016 in Manchester (United Kingdom).

“This research has provided us with a new understanding of heart muscle injury and how it develops. We can now focus our research on developing new treatments to reduce the level of this injury following a heart attack,” said lead author Professor Colin Berry, MD. “The study has also presented a new way of identifying those at a higher risk of heart failure before the condition develops. This knowledge can be used to identify those most in need of interventions and monitoring earlier.”

“Heart failure is an incurable condition which is associated with a reduced quality of life and a lower life expectancy. This exciting research has found a new characteristic related to heart attacks which could be used to treat people following a heart attack, to cut their risk of developing heart failure,” said Professor Jeremy Pearson, MD, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation (Birmingham, United Kingdom), which funded the study. “The British Heart Foundation is committed to funding research to cure heart failure, but this study represents a promising new opportunity to develop new treatments to prevent the onset of heart failure and reduce the burden of the disease.”

Bleeding (or bruising) in the heart affects more than 40% of heart-attack patients, and is associated with a 2.6 times greater risk of adverse remodeling, which is a precursor to heart failure. It is also linked to a six times greater risk of either death or heart failure following a heart attack.

Related Links:
University of Glasgow
British Heart Foundation