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Abstract #1867

Can Chronic Cardiac Allograft Rejection (CCAR) Be Detected Before Irreversible Vascular Changes Occur? Noninvasive Assessment of CCAR by Cellular MR Imaging in a Rat Model

Qing Ye1, Yijen L. Wu2, Lesley M. Foley2, Parker H. Mills2, T Kevin Hitchens2, Fang-Cheng Yeh2, 3, Haosen Zhang2, Danielle F. Eytan2, Li Liu2, Chien Ho2

1NMR Center for Biomedical Research and Department of Biological Sciences , Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 2NMR Center for Biomedical Research and Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Chronic cardiac allograft rejection (CCAR) remains a major obstacle for long-term heart graft survival. Early identification the disease by noninvasive method is highly desirable. By using cellular MRI, we investigated the characteristics of CCAR progression over time in a rat model. Our preliminary results revealed that CCAR appears heterogeneous in its early stages and the accumulation of iron-labeled cells can be an indicator of the lesion formation prior to irreversible vascular changes occur. Cellular MRI is able to evaluate graft status noninvasively over time, which may be a reliable alternative for assessment of CCAR and potentially translatable to clinical work.

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Keywords

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