# Ferumoxytol-Enhanced Cardiac MRI for Ischemic Heart Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $770,420

## Abstract

Project Summary
Ischemic heart disease (IHD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are frequent bedfellows, but IHD as the
leading cause of death in this population is under-diagnosed. Although patients with CKD and post-renal
transplant have the highest risk for IHD, reliable estimation of ischemic burden remains a challenge. Accurate
quantification of ischemic burden is crucial for clinical management because invasive interventions may
worsen kidney function. In patients with CKD, cardiovascular event rates increase significantly with increasing
stage of CKD. Contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is attractive due to the absence
of ionizing radiation and its inherent ability to provide high spatial resolution images. But perfusion cardiac MRI
for defining ischemia relies on the first-pass bolus of gadolinium, which has intrinsic technical shortcomings.
Late gadolinium enhancement for viability is also dependent on gadolinium contrast kinetics. Both are less
suitable for patients with CKD. In patients with renal failure, gadolinium-associated nephrogenic systemic
fibrosis may be fatal and more recently, autopsy results in patients with normal kidney function support
gadolinium accumulation in certain organs and tissues. Our goal is to test and validate a non-nephrotoxic,
steady-state cardiac MRI strategy that overcomes many drawbacks of gadolinium-enhanced cardiac MRI to
detect inducible ischemia and viability. We build upon our collective experience with ferumoxytol-enhanced
MRI and ischemic heart disease. Because ferumoxytol is well-tolerated in patients with renal impairment and
has broad clinical approval for intravenous treatment of iron deficiency anemia, if proven successful, our
steady state stress cardiac MRI approach may also be valuable for other applications.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9973771
- **Project number:** 1R01HL148182-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Kim-Lien T Nguyen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $770,420
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9973771

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9973771, Ferumoxytol-Enhanced Cardiac MRI for Ischemic Heart Disease (1R01HL148182-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9973771. Licensed CC0.

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