# Expanding on a new paradigm for MRI in pediatric congenital heart disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2022 · $687,593

## Abstract

Project Summary
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common defect affecting approximately 1% of live births. Initially
developed and optimized for adults, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is increasingly used in
pediatric CHD patients to complement echocardiography and invasive angiography for anatomical and
functional evaluation of the heart and blood vessels. For children, the non-invasiveness, unrestricted field of
view, and absence of ionizing radiation make MRI an attractive imaging modality because many will need
sequential imaging and long-term follow-up evaluations. However, current CMR for very young children
requires general anesthesia and invasive intubation for acquisition of images that are of acceptable diagnostic
quality. In the past 5 years, we pioneered ferumoxytol-enhanced CMR techniques that provide unprecedented
image quality and diagnostic value; this technique has changed how CMR for pediatric CHD is clinically
performed at our center. Our diagnostic application of ferumoxytol obviates any concerns about gadolinium
accumulation in biologic tissues, In this renewal R01, we aim to develop next-generation CMR that can be
performed without invasive intubation, and potentially with reduced anesthesia/sedation exposure. We further
propose to build upon our improved CMR framework to develop advanced anatomical and hemodynamic
modeling techniques for complex CHD. Together, these tools provide a CMR image-based strategy to help
inform the patient's surgical plan and to ultimately predict surgical outcome. We will expand our multi-center
collaborations to pool data and enable larger scale studies. Completion of the project will result in clinical
deployment of new MRI pulse sequences, image acquisition and reconstruction strategies, and experimental
and computational modeling methods.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10469364
- **Project number:** 5R01HL127153-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Anthony G Christodoulou
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $687,593
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-07-15 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10469364

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10469364, Expanding on a new paradigm for MRI in pediatric congenital heart disease (5R01HL127153-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10469364. Licensed CC0.

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