A study looking at more than 39,000 participants has found MRI can accurately estimate those with higher heart pressure.
People with higher pressure were also five times more likely to develop heart failure, the research found.
Conducted by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Queen Mary University of London, the research suggests heart MRI could replace invasive diagnostic tests.
Heart MRI could replace invasive tests
The study, “Risk factors for raised left ventricular filling pressure by cardiovascular magnetic resonance: Prognostic insights” was published in European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure.
Heart failure is a lethal condition resulting from rising pressures. The study identified that key risk factors for the condition included being age over 70, high blood pressure, obesity, alcohol consumption and male gender.
Co-lead author Dr Pankaj Garg, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “One of the most significant findings of this study is that MRI-derived pressure measurements can reliably predict if an individual will develop heart failure.
“This breakthrough suggests that heart MRI could potentially replace invasive diagnostic tests. Participants with higher heart pressure measured by MRI had a fivefold increased risk of developing heart failure over six years.”
'Could save many lives'
Previous research involving UEA, and the universities of Sheffield and Leeds has shown heart MRI techniques can estimate pressure in the heart, and that such pressure is linked to symptoms of heart failure.
However it had previously been unknown if heart MRI derived pressures can predict heart failure risk in a general population.
Co-lead authorDr Nay Aung, from the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University of London, said: “By combining [heart failure] factors, we developed a model to predict individual heart failure risk. This advancement enables prevention, early detection and treatment of heart failure, which could save many lives.”
Identifying risk factors
In this research work, both teams analysed heart MRI data from 39,000 UK biobank study participants using artificial intelligence techniques and estimated the pressure inside the heart.
They then evaluated each individual’s risk factors and their chance of developing heart failure in the future over a six-year follow-up period.
Other contributions were made by St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, the universities of Leeds and Sheffield, Health Data Research UK and the Alan Turing Institute.
UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing de-identified genetic, lifestyle and health information and biological samples from half a million UK participants.
The work was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Wellcome Trust.
(Image: Co-lead author Dr. Pankaj Garg, via Spire Healthcare)