Reducing the Burden of Heart Failure by Earlier Diagnosis and Precise Staging using Magnetic Resonance and SPECT Imaging

We aim to reduce the incidence of heart failure (HF) and improve patient outcome by earlier diagnosis and more precise staging of the disease. This will be achieved by developing and testing the predictive performance and incremental value of our novel in-house developed methods for MRI and SPECT imaging as new biomarkers over standard methods in diagnosing and grading heart failure. Furthermore, we will use these new quantitative imaging endpoints in interventional randomized clinical trials. Imaging biomarkers will be related to biochemical, metabolic, and inflammatory markers from biobanks and to markers of tissue injury. Our main hypothesis is that novel imaging methods will enhance the quality of diagnosis of heart failure, reduce suffering and help develop future therapies.