A study led by the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) has used a state-of-the-art magnetic resonance to reveal the normal values of the anatomy and function of the heart in adolescents.
The results, published in the scientific journal ‘eClinicalMedicine’, they have direct implications in clinical practice, as they provide a list of reference values for a multitude of heart parameters used in daily practice.
Advantages to control the atria and ventricles
The scientific director of the CNIC and co-author of the study, Borja Ibáñez, has assured that “the results have direct implications in clinical practice, since they provide a list of reference values for a multitude of heart parameters used in daily practice, such as are the dimensions and function of the different cardiac chambers (atria and ventricles) and the composition of heart tissue“.
Thus, this will make it possible to “know whether the data obtained from an adolescent’s heart by means of magnetic resonance imaging at any center fall within what could be considered ‘normal’ or not, which could imply the latter that closer follow-up or tests are necessary. additions”, has highlighted Dr. Fernandez-Jimenez.
MRI
The general director of the CNIC and co-author of the work, Valentin Fusterhas explained that magnetic resonance imaging “has become one of the most widely used imaging techniques to study the heart as it is a test that does not emit radiation and because it provides more information and greater precision than that obtained by ultrasoundthe test used most often”.
However, most of the data available on cardiac MRI in adolescents comes from people with congenital abnormalities and other heart diseases, so the “normal” values in the general population were not well known.
This information is essential to be able to properly interpret cardiac magnetic resonance studies, as explained by Dr. Rodrigo Fernández-Jiménezprincipal investigator of the work, leader of the research group on Cardiovascular Image and Health at the CNIC and cardiologist at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos.
And that was precisely what the CNIC researchers decided to determine. Within the EnIGMA project and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this team was able to include 123 adolescents in the study, 64 girls and 59 boys, from 7 public secondary schools in the Community of Madrid.
These institutes and adolescents participated in the SI! Secondary Education, a program to promote healthy lifestyle habits coordinated by the SHE Foundation, with the support of the “la Caixa” Foundation and the University of Barcelona.
Carlos Real, first author of the paper, researcher at the CNIC and Internal Medicine Resident in Cardiology at the San Carlos Clinical Hospital, has applauded that “the response of adolescents and their families was incredible.”
“Some of these institutes are located more than 60 kilometers from the capital, and the adolescents and at least one parent or legal guardian traveled in a totally altruistic way to the facilities that the CNIC has to carry out state-of-the-art cardiovascular imaging studies. generation. We are very grateful to them because without their collaboration it would not have been possible to carry out this work”, he added.