CMR Clinical Research Group - Leeds

CMR Clinical Research Group - Leeds

The CE-MARC Study

Information for Patients

Have you agreed to be part of a part of an MRI heart research study? If so, some of the information on this website may be relevant to you. If you are waiting for a routine MRI scan (you have not agreed to be part of a research study) then the information on this website is not relevant to you. We refer you to the Leeds Teaching Hospitals main website.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a relatively new test which produces detailed pictures of your internal organs by putting you within a strong magnetic field. Using cardiac MRI we are able to detect several important abnormalities that are caused by coronary heart disease, for example the scarring of the heart from heart attacks and the restrictions of blood flow to the heart muscle that lead to chest pain. Also, MRI produces pictures of the heart with much greater detail than with other types of heart scans. Importantly, MRI is also a safer test than most other heart scans, because it does not expose patients to any harmful radiation and pictures of the heart can be taken 'from the outside'. Because of all of these qualities, MRI might become one of the most important tests in patients who suffer with chest pain and coronary heart disease. As for any new test, before being able to use MRI on a daily basis, we need to find out which patients could benefit most from this new test, and how accurate it really is compared with the currently available tests. This is why we are carrying out this research study.

You may have been chosen for this study because you have been referred to a cardiology clinic with chest pain. The doctors in charge of the study will discuss with you the details of the study, and what it will involve. An information sheet has been prepared for participants in the study, which will be given to you. You may look at it now if you wish:

» Patient Information Sheet PDF file

(Adobe Reader is required to view the file, which is a free program which you can download and install. It is commonly pre-installed on many computers.)

Consumers for Ethics in Research (CERES) publish a leaflet entitled 'Medical Research and You' PDF file. This leaflet gives more information about medical research and looks at some additional questions you may want to ask.