UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science

We create methods to measure new aspects of abnormal heart muscle. One important method is in using CMR to measure diffuse myocardial fibrosis. To date, this fundamental process was only detectable by heart biopsy. Our first few years data show this technique to be robust and potentially applicable in across cardiology.

Scarring occurs in most heart diseases. The scars potentially represent the substrate for arrhythmia and heart failure. Our research explores all aspects of scar – how to acquire the images, how to measure scar on the images, and their significance, including prognostic and diagnostic relevance.

Diagnosing established disease is often relatively easy – but getting the disease in the early phase harder. We are interested in detecting the earliest changes, particularly in families, such that treatment can be started early, or, just as importantly, individuals can be reassured to the fullest extent that there is no disease present. 

Cardiac involvement in amyloid is associated with poor outcome. We aim to diagnose and quantify amyloid infiltration in the heart and to create precise tests so that future trials of new therapies can gauge their effect on the heart.

When an individual suffers a heart attack, emergency surgery is needed to open up the artery (primary angioplasty). However, up-to one third of heart muscle could be prevented from dying with additional therapies at this time. We explore the biology of heart muscle during heart attacks and new treatments that could save this muscle.

CMR is one of the best ways of measuring the heart and thus disease. We run a CMR corelab to coordinate clinical trials and quality control scans at multiple centres across (mainly) Europe and UK.