Lung MRI for long COVID V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Advanced magnetic resonance imaging for evaluating lung damage associated with long COVID
IRAS ID
317045
Contact name
Melissa Heightman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL/UCLH Joint Research Office (part of the Research Support Centre)
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
There is growing evidence of long-term challenges with ongoing symptoms for patients after recovery from COVID-19, so called ‘long COVID’. Studies have shown that one of the most common symptoms in patients with long COVID is breathlessness that cannot be identifiable through blood tests, lung function tests or imaging such as computed tomography (CT). Therefore, there is a need to develop an imaging biomarker to identify the functional abnormality in structurally normal or nearly normal lungs at CT in patients with long COVID. Recent studies have shown early promise for hyperpolarised 129-xenon MRI in this situation, but this is a technique that is not widely available [3,4]. There is therefore a need for a more readily available imaging technique to make such information more widely available, potentially in any hospital setting.
Oxygen-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (OE-MRI) is a method that has been demonstrated for imaging lung function. OE-MRI enables regional investigation of pulmonary ventilation and gas transfer across the alveolar epithelium into the bloodstream. Previous studies by Prof Parker (PI)’s former group and his collaborators have shown that OE-MRI is feasible in patients with chronic lung disease when using 1.5 T MRI scanners. Recently, his group has also demonstrated highly sensitive novel OE-MRI methods at the more challenging MRI field strength of 3 T, making OE-MRI practical for all clinical field strength MRI scanners.
This observational study aims to establish the feasibility of lung function measurement using oxygen enhanced MRI in patients both previously hospitalized for COVID-19 and those who were community managed. In this study, Ten patients with long COVID will undergo a clinical computed tomography (CT) scan, standard clinical lung function tests and advanced MRI scans, which will include 100% oxygen breathing for OE-MRI and injection of contrast agent for dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI.
For future patients, the outcome of this study will mean better detection of the causes of long COVID symptoms, less radiation burden by reducing the need for CT, and more effective management of long COVID.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0359
Date of REC Opinion
27 Nov 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion