Incidence and pathophysiological significance of persistent myocardial oedema and haemorrhage in the infarct zone of heart attack survivors

Heart attack causes sudden swelling, bruising and damage of the heart. Prompt restoration of blood
flow by re-opening the blocked coronary artery and use of cardioprotective medicines improves
survival after a heart attack. Since more patients are being treated effectively these days, more
people are surviving with injured hearts. Because of the initial heart damage, heart attack survivors
are at-risk of future heart failure, which is a debilitating condition. Our group has recently completed
one of the largest ever heart attack studies involving state-of-the-art cardiac magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI). 300 heart attack survivors had MRI 2 days and 6 months after emergency treatment
to open the blocked heart artery. To date we have focused on the early MRI scans. In this Vacation
Scholarship, we propose to 1) analyse the 6-month MRI scans for persistent oedema and
haemorrhage, and 2) assess the frequency and significance of these pathologies on heart function
and clinical outcomes.