Clinical Cardiology Section

Richard Cannon, MD, Principal Investigator

	Real-time MRI guided myocardial injection.

Dr. Richard Cannon is involved in the study of the regulation of coronary blood flow in health and in cardiac diseases including CAD and cardiomyopathies. Currently, collaborative efforts with investigators in the NIH  Critical Care Medicine Department and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) include the study of the coronary blood flow effect of nitric oxide bound to hemoglobin, enriched by nitric oxide inhalation, with preferential delivery expected to vascular regions deficient in local nitric oxide synthesis, i.e., the coronary circulation of patients with coronary artery disease. Additional novel approaches to enhance coronary blood flow to ischemic myocardium are planned in collaboration with investigators in the Hematology Branch of NHLBI, including cytokine mobilization of stem cells from bone marrow, with the potential of cardiac arteriogenesis in patients with coronary artery disease.

• Publications

Robert J Lederman, MD, Principal Investigator
Cardiovascular Intervention Program
ledermar@mail.nih.gov

Dr. Lederman, MD, is applying real-time MRI imaging to guide novel mechanical and biological therapeutic cardiovascular interventions. He collaborates closely with the NHLBI Medical Imaging Section to develop custom hardware and software solutions for interventional MRI.  A combined X-ray/MRI interventional suite has been installed for clinical and animal experiments. These tools are being applied toward investigation of stem cell and angiogenic therapies for patients with acute and chronic ischemic myocardial and peripheral artery disease.

MRI Images

MRI-guided injection of stem cells into the heart

Sequence of real-time MRI-guided cardiac injections

Angiogram of a kidney after a catheter is placed in the renal artery using real-time MRI guidance

Publications

Dr. Sachdev's main areas of interest are:  1) Use of ultrasound and microbubbles to enhance gene transfection,  2) Using Doppler tissue imaging to assess diastolic function,  3) Evaluation of pulmonary hypertension in the sickle cell population and 4) Use of resting and stress echocardiography to evaluate various interventions for CAD.

Projects for the near future include:  1) Use of intracardiac echo to evaluate hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,  2) Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography and 3) Myocardial contrast echo for assessment of perfusion.

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