# Cardiac MR imaging of hemorrhagic reperfusion injury after myocardial infarction

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2021 · $544,930

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Heart failure (HF) is an enormous health burden affecting approximately 5.1 million people in the US and is the
cause of 250,000 deaths each year. Approximately 50% of HF is caused by myocardial ischemia and requires
immediate restoration of coronary blood flow to the affected myocardium. However, the success of reperfusion
is partly limited by intramyocardial hemorrhage, which is the deposition of intravascular material into the
myocardium. Hemorrhagic reperfusion injury has high prevalence and patients have a much greater risk of
adverse left ventricular remodeling, risk of fatal arrhythmia, impaired systolic function and are hospitalized at a
greater rate. Recent magnetic resonance imaging techniques have improved assessment of reperfusion injury,
however, the association between MRI contrasts and reperfusion injury is highly unclear, and lacks specificity
to IMH. Improved imaging of IMH and accurate knowledge about its spatial and temporal evolution may be
essential for delivery of optimal medical therapy in patients and critical to identify patients most at risk for
adverse ventricular remodeling. The overall goal is to investigate the magnetic properties of hemorrhage and
develop MRI techniques with improved specificity to hemorrhage. New MRI techniques permit noninvasive
assessment of the magnetic susceptibility of tissues and can target tissue iron. Therefore, we hypothesize that
MRI imaging of myocardial magnetic susceptibility can map hemorrhagic myocardium. We will perform
preclinical experiments in a pig model of reperfusion injury to validate these methods, compare them with
conventional MR contrasts and develop MR methods for imaging live animals.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10144016
- **Project number:** 5R01HL137984-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Walter R.T. Witschey
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $544,930
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-06-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10144016

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10144016, Cardiac MR imaging of hemorrhagic reperfusion injury after myocardial infarction (5R01HL137984-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10144016. Licensed CC0.

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