MRI to Identify Changes in Healthy Aging Lungs (MICHAL)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating changes in lung physiology associated with aging, smoking and environmental exposures using multi-nuclear lung MR imaging
IRAS ID
224746
Contact name
Jim Wild
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
8 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
As we get older and are exposed to environmental pollutants such as cigarette smoke, changes occur in our lungs. We would like to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to explore these changes in more detail. We will perform hyperpolarised gas MRI which involves inhaling gases from a bag (containing a mixture of nitrogen and either helium or xenon).\n\nMRI is a type of scan which uses magnets to take images of the lungs. It has been used in Sheffield to gain new information about common lung diseases, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. We are using MRI to find out what structural and functional changes occur in the lungs in people as they get older as well as in people who smoke but are otherwise healthy.\n\nWe will also perform breathing tests, involving asking participants to complete breathing manoeuvres such as holding their breath and breathing out quickly into a machine. These are called pulmonary function tests (PFT) and are performed routinely in chest clinic for people with lung disease.\n\nWe plan to recruit 80-100 healthy volunteers across an age range of 18-90 both male and female. We aim to repeat the breathing tests and scanning three years and six years after the first visit in a small number of volunteers. MRI and PFT’s will be performed in the Academic Unit of Radiology, which is situated in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0725
Date of REC Opinion
15 May 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion