Award

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for studies of the obesity-diabetes-atherosclerosis disease process and its consequences

Description: The main purpose of the project is to develop and validate MRI and PET methods for studies of the obesity-diabetes-atherosclerosis disease process and its consequences with a currently funded PET-MR equipment. The PET-MR equipment will be used for developing methods for detection and monitoring brown fat tissue, which could be a potential target for new anti-obesity drugs. It will also be used for quantification of betacell mass in parallel with distribution of adipose tissue and glucose metabolism of different tissues in diabetic patients and normal subjects. PET-MR can be used to assess the composition and the inflammatory status of atherosclerotic plaques. The prognostic value of this information for future major cardiovasvular events will be studied in a subcohort of EpiHealth, where interactions between genotypes and life-style for development of cardiovascular diseases in a large cohort are investigated. We also plan to include 300 patients with known myocardial infarctions and investigate their myocardial flow and function with PET-MR and follow them for 3 years with respect to major cardiovascular events. Methods for analysing and extracting information from the huge amount of data generated by the PET-MR equipment will be developed. The extracted PET-MR data in combination with other parameters from the disease process obesity-diabetes-atherosclerosis could in the future serve as basis for disease prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and new treatment modalities.

Funder: Vetenskapsrådet

Amount: SEK 2,100,000

Funding type: research

Funder scheme: Project grant

Start date: 2013-01-01

End date: 2015-12-31

Investigator: Håkan Ahlström (lead)

Institution: Uppsala University

Topic: Cardiac Imaging and Diagnostics

Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences