# A Myocardial Approach to Identify the Cause of Cardiomyopathy

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2024 · $116,250

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Cardiomyopathy is classified into ischemic cardiomyopathy, caused by coronary artery disease, or non-
ischemic cardiomyopathy, caused by other factors. The current standard practice for diagnosing the cause of
cardiomyopathy is to use coronary angiography to assess the presence or absence of coronary artery disease.
However, this approach is flawed and may not always accurately identify the underlying cause of the
myocardial disease. Recent advancements in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging allow for a myocardial
approach to identifying the cause of cardiomyopathy by directly visualizing myocardial abnormalities, including
tissue damage. We hypothesize that a myocardial approach will reclassify the cause of cardiomyopathy in a
clinically significant proportion of patients and improve the prediction of long-term outcomes. To test this
hypothesis, we will use a large cohort of patients from an institutional registry of consecutive patients
undergoing cardiac magnetic resonance imaging for clinical reasons. Our study's anticipated results will
provide novel, large-scale data on the cause of cardiomyopathy and its long-term prognostic impact, clarifying
the extent of misclassification when using a coronary approach. This information will be essential to conduct a
randomized clinical trial comparing a myocardial approach to the coronary approach for identifying the cause of
cardiomyopathy. More accurate recognition of the cause of cardiomyopathy will allow for increased use of
appropriate cause-specific treatments, improving the long-term outcomes of patients. The study's results will
be relevant to the 1 million Americans diagnosed with heart failure and the several thousand others diagnosed
with cardiomyopathy without heart failure every year. The proposed work has a high potential to lead to
improvements in clinical practice and patient outcomes on a large scale.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10983492
- **Project number:** 1R21HL172296-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Chetan Shenoy
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $116,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10983492

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10983492, A Myocardial Approach to Identify the Cause of Cardiomyopathy (1R21HL172296-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10983492. Licensed CC0.

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