|  |
Joint Research Project for Early Detection of Heart Attack Risk
A new diagnostic procedure for early detection of the risk for cardiac infarction - called "Nano-Ag” - is the objective of a joint research project by well-known com-panies and renowned academic institutes. Siemens Medical Solutions leads the consortium which includes partners Schering AG, Ferropharm, MeVis gGmbH, Charité Berlin, The German Cancer Research Institute of Heidelberg, and the Radi-ology Department of Freiburg University. The project is encouraged by the german Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s initiative "NanoforLife”.
The objective of this research initiative is to establish a diagnostic procedure for the early detection of the risk for cardiac infarction. For this purpose, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent based on nanoscale iron oxide particles and corresponding MRI pro-cedure are being developed. Its subsequent application should operate in the following manner: after the contrast agent is injected it selectively enriches the affected regions. Us-ing modern imaging procedures such as MRI, the enriched contrast agent and the source of the potential danger can be visualized.
Over the past few years there has been increasing evidence to indicate that inflamed changes to the vascular wall, called vulnerable plaque, are primarily responsible for the acute vascular occlusions that occur with myocardial infarction. Definite verification of this plaque is not possible using current imaging techniques. The chemical modification of su-per paramagnetic iron oxide particles (VSOP= very small superparamagnetic iron oxide particle) is expected to provide new opportunities for non-invasive verification of this pa-thology. Various tests will be used to determine whether this VSOP under development is suitable as contrast agent for MRI diagnostics. In addition to the VSOP development, MRI measurement procedures have to be adapted to the specialized requirements of cardiac imaging, for example, in terms of temporal and spatial resolution. In this case, primarily clinical MRI systems currently in the development phase will be used to accelerate the subsequent transfer of these methods to the clinical routine. Development is taking place in a, to date, unique interdisciplinary consortium comprising industry, medium-sized com-panies, and leading international academic centers. 12.09.2005, Siemens Medical Solutions
Subscribe to the newsletter | | |
| | | |
