MRI Scans Can Identify Cardiovascular Disease Ten Years in Advance

While some individuals are genetically predisposed, lifestyle factors like smoking, obesity, poor diet, and a lack of physical activity can significantly increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The heart’s ventricles, located in the lower chambers, play a crucial role in blood circulation. The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs, while the left ventricle distributes blood to the rest of the body. Remodeling of the left ventricle is a well-recognized marker for individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease, as it occurs early in the disease and often signals conditions such as hypertension. However, the risk factors for individuals categorized as low to medium risk have been less understood until now. New research has now shown that an increased, yet still normal, left ventricle mass could be a strong indicator of an elevated risk of future cardiovascular events, even when the heart appears to be functioning normally at the time of the assessment.

The TASCFORCE study, conducted by researchers at the University of Dundee (Scotland, UK), analyzed data from participants collected between January 2008 and February 2013. A total of 5,015 volunteers over the age of 40, with no prior history of cardiovascular disease, provided data with the understanding that their information would be revisited ten years later. As part of the study, 1,528 volunteers underwent an MRI, leading to the discovery that the mass of the left ventricle could serve as a clear indicator of future cardiovascular risk, detectable through a simple MRI scan. This easy-to-perform, widely available procedure was shown to identify individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease up to ten years before an event occurs, even in those who have no other identifiable risk factors.

The study's findings, published in the journal Radiology, also revealed distinct risk factors between men and women. For men, a larger left ventricle, linked to heart attacks and strokes, was associated with diastolic blood pressure levels in the higher end of the normal range. For women, the researchers found a correlation between increased left ventricle mass and elevated cholesterol levels, again within the upper normal limits. In both cases, these risk factors were such that no preventive treatment would typically be recommended. However, identifying and providing preemptive treatment at a stage where the heart is still functioning well could potentially prevent many deaths caused by cardiovascular disease.

“This is a very exciting and significant development,” said Professor Jill Belch, part of the School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiovascular Research, who led the study. “The findings of our TASCFORCE study make it clear that we need to encourage men to monitor and reduce their diastolic blood pressure, while for women we should be looking at increasing the use of statins at an earlier stage to control cholesterol levels.”