WellChild Research Projects

MRI Diagnosis in children with Congenital Heart Disease

Lead Researchers: Dr Reza Razavi and Dr Gerald Greil, Evelina Children's Hospital

Grant award sum: £273,178

Duration: November 2006 - November 2009

Synopsis: Treatment of children with congenital heart problems has been revolutionised in the past 30 years. The majority of these children can now be cured or have a better quality of life with good medium to long term results. Great innovations have been achieved in the non-invasive diagnosis and preoperative planning of these children with new techniques using ultrasound and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). There have also been major leaps forward in treatment with new and improved surgical techniques and the ability to perform some of the procedures using keyhole surgery.

Despite the great advances during the past few decades, some patients with complex congenital heart disease need lifetime care and supervision. As more of these patients survive early childhood, problems such as irregular heart rhythm, vessel narrowing and decreased heart function are becoming increasingly important.

The major problem now is that some of these patients are not surviving past their teenage years. Therefore, there is a need to translate the very good short term results to good long term results so that these children are able to have a good quality near normal lifespan. To this end patient friendly non-invasive methods for better diagnosis and treatment will be the focus for the research over the next 30 years.

High resolution 3D MRI imaging allows the reproduction of 3D models of the heart. Those models can be used for teaching and research. Using different materials, real reproductions of complex congenital heart disease can be used for improved preoperative planning.