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Heart failure and cardiomyopathies
Original research
Ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI in patients with prior cardiac transplantation
  1. Colin G Stirrat1,
  2. Shirjel Alam2,
  3. Thomas J MacGillivray3,
  4. Calum Gray3,
  5. Marc Richard Dweck1,
  6. Victor Jones1,
  7. William Wallace4,
  8. John R Payne5,
  9. Sanjay K Prasad6,
  10. Roy S Gardner7,
  11. Mark C Petrie8,9,
  12. Saeed Mirsadraee3,
  13. Peter Henriksen10,
  14. David E Newby1 and
  15. Scott Semple3
  1. 1Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  2. 2Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  3. 3Clinical Research Imaging Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  4. 4Department of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  5. 5Scottish National Advanced Heart Failure Service (SNAHFS), Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank, UK
  6. 6Department of Cardiology, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK
  7. 7Scottish Advanced Heart Failure Unit, Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank, UK
  8. 8Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
  9. 9Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank, UK
  10. 10Edinburgh Heart Centre, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Colin G Stirrat; colin.stirrat{at}ed.ac.uk

Abstract

Objectives Ultra-small superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide (USPIO)-enhanced MRI can detect cellular inflammation within tissues and may help non-invasively identify cardiac transplant rejection. Here, we aimed to determine the normal reference values for USPIO-enhanced MRI in patients with a prior cardiac transplant and examine whether USPIO-enhanced MRI could detect myocardial inflammation in patients with transplant rejection.

Methods Ten volunteers and 11 patients with cardiac transplant underwent T2, T2* and late gadolinium enhancement 1.5T MRI, with further T2* imaging at 24 hours after USPIO (ferumoxytol, 4 mg/kg) infusion, at baseline and 3 months.

Results Ten patients with clinically stable cardiac transplantation were retained for analysis. Myocardial T2 values were higher in patients with cardiac transplant versus healthy volunteers (53.8±5.2 vs 48.6±1.9 ms, respectively; p=0.003). There were no differences in the magnitude of USPIO-induced change in R2* in patients with transplantation (change in R2*, 26.6±7.3 vs 22.0±10.4 s-1 in healthy volunteers; p=0.28). After 3 months, patients with transplantation (n=5) had unaltered T2 values (52.7±2.8 vs 52.12±3.4 ms; p=0.80) and changes in R2* following USPIO (29.42±8.14 vs 25.8±7.8 s-1; p=0.43).

Conclusion Stable patients with cardiac transplantation have increased myocardial T2 values, consistent with resting myocardial oedema or fibrosis. In contrast, USPIO-enhanced MRI is normal and stable over time suggesting the absence of chronic macrophage-driven cellular inflammation. It remains to be determined whether USPIO-enhanced MRI may be able to identify acute cardiac transplant rejection.

Trial registration number NCT02319278349 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02319278) Registered 03.12.2014 EUDraCT 2013-002336-24.

  • cardiac
  • MRI
  • cardiac transplant
  • inflammation
  • USPIO

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2019-001115

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors CGS, SA, SS and DEN designed the study, collected and analysed, data and drafted the manuscript. TJM, CG, MRD, VJ and WW analysed and interpreted data and drafted the manuscript. MRD, JRP, SKP, RSG, SM and PH designed the study and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

    • Funding This work was supported by the Chief Scientist Office (ETM/266). SA, MRD and DEN are supported by the British Heart Foundation (FS/12/83; FS/14/78/31020; CH/09/002). DEN is the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award (WT103782AIA).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.