Fast Field Cycling imaging of kidney disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating a novel molecular imaging technique, Fast Field-Cycling, for kidney health and disease
IRAS ID
302880
Contact name
Simon Sawhney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 28 days
Research summary
The kidneys are vital organs responsible for clearance of toxins in the human body. The kidneys age over time and this ageing process is complex, involving changes both to their structure and function, and can be accelerated by disease processes. Without an invasive biopsy procedure, it is often difficult to distinguish between age-related damage from active disease, that could be modified with treatment. Even with a biopsy however, diseases are often patchy and can be overlooked if missed by the biopsy sample procedure. Alternative imaging approaches have limited ability to differentiate between modifiable and non-modifiable disease processes. Our team, based at the University of Aberdeen, has developed a unique magnetic imaging technology, Fast Field-Cycling (FFC) imaging. FFC derives from conventional MRI scanners but has the ability to change its magnetic field strength during a scan. This is equivalent to having many MRI scanners in one device and allows completely new analyses of the behaviour of tissue remodelling to pathological processes, from millimetres to nanometres. This information is invisible to standard MRI scanners. If this scanner shows that it is effective in monitoring kidney disease then this would contribute to evidence from previous studies in cancer and stroke promoting the need to develop a new scanner that could be used clinically in the future.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
22/NS/0096
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jul 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion