Ultra-rapid MRI for Alzheimer’s disease (RAID)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ultra-rapid MRI for Alzheimer’s disease: ‘real-world’ application for trials and practice
IRAS ID
354191
Contact name
Geoff Parker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2025/07/149 health research, UCL Data Protection Registration
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
As populations age the number of affected individuals with dementia is set to rise dramatically. Concomitantly, increased awareness has led to growing numbers of people with and without dementia who have concerns about cognitive decline. This is leading to overwhelming pressures on health care systems to provide wider access to a timely diagnosis. This need will greatly increase with the advent of more effective therapies.
Our research has shown that we can substantially reduce scan times for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis at 3 Telsa (3T), a scanner strength typically used in specialist clinical settings. Reducing scan time reduced patient burden, movement artefact and cost – and in that way increased scanner capacity. The key scientific challenge that we address in this project is to demonstrate that these ultra-rapid MRI protocols can be deployed in “real-world” settings across a wider range of scanner types. Many non-specialist clinical settings may not have access to a 3T MRI scanner. Extending our findings to lower magnetic field strengths will increase clinical benefit where 3T MRI scanner availability is limited. The output of this study will be a 1.5 T protocol that is optimised for deployment in future clinical studies and clinical practice.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0638
Date of REC Opinion
26 Sep 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion