£3.1m MRI scanner to boost patient care and research opportunities

A new MRI scanner facility that will help expand vital research into heart and circulatory diseases has opened at Glenfield Hospital.

MRI scanners are used to produce detailed images of the inside of the body using strong magnetic fields and radio waves.

Before now, researchers in Leicester have been able to scan 500 cardiovascular research participants a year.

The new facility will increase this to 1,500 and allow for new research into metabolism at rest and exercise, capabilities only available in a handful of centres across the UK.

The new scanner facility has been funded by a £1 million grant from the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

It will be jointly owned by Leicester’s Hospitals, which has dedicated £2.1 million to the facility, and the University of Leicester.

The joint ownership of the facility will allow for improved patient clinical care as well as increasing capacity for cardiovascular research for both the University of Leicester and the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) - a partnership between Leicester’s Hospitals, the University of Leicester and Loughborough University.

Rebecca Brown, acting chief executive at Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “We’re so proud to work with the British Heart Foundation and the University of Leicester to bring this new facility into the hospital.

“These scanners will be part of our hospital in daily use, which will increase the availability of scans and speed up the process for our patients who need them, both by the increased number of MRI scans available, and by the improvement in technology that the new facility provides.

“We will also be able to offer more opportunities for people to take part in research locally, which will lead to improved care for our community in the future.”

The launch of the new MRI scanner facility builds on the successes of cardiovascular research in Leicester.

The imaging team has secured more than £9 million in external grants, published over 100 papers in the past five years, influenced guideline changes for coronary artery disease and has been the largest recruiter for a study into multi-organ imaging for Covid-19.

Professor Nishan Canagarajah, vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester, spoke at the launch.

He said: “This fantastic new facility is an example of the dynamic and fruitful partnership between the University, Hospital Trust, and the British Heart Foundation.”