Ferreira Group: Quantitative cardiac magnetic resonance myocardial tissue characterisation

Professor Vanessa Ferreira has expertise in the study of heart disease using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), particularly quantitative techniques such as myocardial T1-mapping.

Briefly, each tissue type in the body has a magnetic property called T1 relaxation time, which can be measured (in milliseconds) using MRI scans. The heart has a specific range of normal T1 values, deviation from which may be indicative of disease.

T1-mapping generates a pixel-by-pixel T1-map of the heart, which can locate small areas of disease in a numerical manner. Thus, T1-mapping provides a quantitative way to examine the heart, does not require any injection of contrast agents or radiation, and produces coloured MRI images which give additional information compared to traditional MR images.

Working with MR physicists, engineers, biomedical imaging experts and clinician-scientists from a range of specialties, the group is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary. One of the main goals to advance CMR methods to gain more insight into heart disease in ways not previously possible, in a non-invasive way. Another is to minimise the need for injection of contrast agents for diagnostic images, allowing more patients to benefit from cardiac MRI, eliminating adverse reactions to contrast agents, and savings in time and cost.