Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to create a precise image of a healthy teenage heart. Using this state-of-the-art technology, the research team was able to establish benchmarks for the anatomical and functional characteristics of the heart during adolescence.
This study was published in eClinicalMedicine. “Magnetic resonance imaging has become a very important method for studying the heart because it avoids exposing patients to radiation and provides more information and with greater precision than ultrasound, currently the most commonly used cardiac imaging technique,” said CNIC CEO Dr. Valentin Fuster, co-author of the study.
However, most of the published MRI data from adolescent subjects come from patients with congenital heart defects or other cardiac diseases. As a result, there is a lack of knowledge about “normal” values of cardiac parameters in the general adolescent population. “These reference values are essential for the correct interpretation of cardiac MRI studies in this population group,” said lead study author Dr. Rodrigo Fernandez-Jimenez, head of the Cardiovascular Health and Imaging group at CNIC and cardiologist at Hospital Clinico San Carlos. .
These benchmarks are exactly what the CNIC team decided to define. As part of the EnIGMA (Early ImaginG Markers of Unhealthy Lifestyle in Adolescents) project, the team managed to recruit 123 adolescent participants (64 girls and 59 boys) from 7 publicly funded secondary schools in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. within the Community of Madrid. Schools and youth have already been registered in SI! Program for secondary schools, a program dedicated to the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits, coordinated by Fundacion SHE- “la Caixa” in collaboration with CNIC and the University of Barcelona.
“The response from participants and their families has been incredible,” said first author Dr. Carlos Real, CNIC investigator and resident cardiologist at Hospital Clinico San Carlos. “Some schools are located more than 60 km from the city and the participants and at least one parent or guardian visited CNIC’s advanced imaging facility entirely voluntarily. Without their willingness to get involved, the project would not have been possible.”
Dr. Borja Ibanez, scientific director of the CNIC and co-author of the study, emphasized that “the results have direct implications for clinical practice, as they provide a list of reference values for several cardiac parameters used in daily practice, including measurements of the size and functioning of the heart chambers (atria and ventricles) and composition heart tissue. Dr. Fernandez-Jimenez concluded that “with this information, clinicians at any center can determine whether the cardiac MRI data from an adolescent’s heart falls within the normal range for that age group and prescribe closer monitoring and additional testing if necessary.”
