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Overview

Our research in cardiovascular imaging focuses on the following main topics:

1. Coronary haemodynamics: Image based computer modelling of coronary artery disease and blood flow, clinical decision making in coronary artery disease and imaging to guide complex percutaneous coronary interventions
2. Pulmonary circulation: Novel image and data analysis approaches for better phenotyping and risk stratification for individuals with pulmonary vascular disease
3. Cardiac form and function: Cardiac imaging to better stratify patients with common cardiac disorders, develop non-invasive haemodynamic models for clinical applications and predict outcomes

Coronary Haemodynamics

Our focus is on analysis of invasive coronary angiogram images to better understand the limitation of blood flow to the myocardium produced by coronary artery disease. This feeds into our computational modelling work. It allows cardiologists to target their interventional therapies to lesions that matter, and reduce hazardous and unnecessary procedures. Our group also aims to develop a better understanding of the interface between coronary flow and myocardial ischaemia using first pass myocardial perfusion on MRI.  

Pulmonary Circulation

Our research ambition is to improve the management and outcome of patients with pulmonary vascular disease. We have ongoing projects that aim to:

1. Improve the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and determine disease severity
2. Better stratify patients in diagnostic categories: pulmonary arterial hypertension, pulmonary hypertension associated with left heart disease or lung disease and patients with chronic thromboembolic disease
3. Improve risk stratification to allow for better predictions of therapy response and 1 year mortality

Our research utilises data from the ; a large DICOM imaging repository with computed tomography (CT) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging scans in individuals with suspected pulmonary hypertension cases (>5000 cases).  We are developing and utilising machine learning approaches within the group and in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, and other universities e.g Leiden Medical Centre.

Cardiac form and function

Our vision is to develop an optimal imaging approach for patients with several cardiovascular disorders. We aim to do this by utilising state-of-the-art imaging techniques like four-dimensional flow (4D flow) CMR. Also, we develop novel image analysis approaches to better stratify patients and make better predictions of their clinical outcomes. 

We have established a unique partnership with ºù«Ӱҵ Teaching Hospitals through a joint venture called 3D lab. The 3D lab provides a wealth of clinical imaging with encoded clinically relevant data for informing patient outcomes in the real world. The 3D lab imaging database has a large repository of CMR and cardiac CT scans. In the long run, our vision is that this resource will provide access to carry out large observational studies exploring the value of clinical imaging. The main strengths of this database are that it records all imaging based segmentation data, which can be then investigated for patient outcomes. This database is also well integrated with other clinical databases at ºù«Ӱҵ Teaching Hospitals. This pioneering collaboration between the University academics and the NHS is also supported by the technical expertise of the Medical Physics Department of ºù«Ӱҵ Teaching Hospitals.  

People, Projects & Publications

People

Professor Julian Gunn

Professor of Interventional Cardiology
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Interest: from images to physiology.
Better decision making for treating patients with CHD.
Personalised medicine.
Bring computational modelling into mainstream cardiology.
Foster new researchers.

Email

J.Gunn@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9531

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Professor Andy Swift

Professor of Cardiothoracic Radiology
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Primary clinical area: Pulmonary vascular Disease

Main research areas Optimising diagnostic, prognostic and treatment response assessments with a focus on image post processing with machine learning

Email

a.j.swift@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9143

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Dr Paul Morris

Senior Clinical Lecturer in Cardiology, Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Email

paul.morris@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9545

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Dr John Fenner

Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Interested in technology translation - clinical application.
Imaging performance quantification (EPSRC PhD).
Virtual reality (BRET).
3D printing.
Machine Learning.
Training.

Email

j.w.fenner@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9526

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Dr Andrew Narracott

Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Mechanics
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Email

a.j.narracott@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9540

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Professor Jim Wild

Professor of Magnetic Resonance Physics, Executive Director of Insigneo Institute
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Email

j.m.wild@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9141

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Professor David G Kiely

Honorary Professor of Pulmonary Vascular Medicine
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Email

david.kiely1@nhs.net

D K

Dr Laura Saunders

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Email

L.Saunders@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9152

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Dr Samer Alabed

Senior Clinical Research Fellow
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Email

s.alabed@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone

+44 114 215 9142

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• Pete Metherall (Clinical Scientist at STH NHS Foundation Trust)
• Michael Sharkey (Clinical Scientist at STH NHS Foundation Trust)

Current Projects / Grants

• 02/2021 – 02/2023. . NIHR AI in Health and Care Award. Swift, Wild, Kiely, Shahin, Alabed
• 10/2019 – 10/2021. Wellcome Digital Innovator Award. Developing an intelligent tool to improve prognostic and treatment response assessment on cardiac MRI data with machine learning. Wellcome Digital Innovator Award. Swift, Garg, Kiely and Wild
• 02/2018 – 02/2021. Whole heart, four dimensional flow magnetic resonance imaging for accurate assessment of right and left heart flow haemodynamics. Academy of Medical Sciences. Garg 
• 08/2017 – 08/2022. Imaging Pulmonary Vascular Disease: Computational Modelling and large data analytics. Wellcome Trust - Clinical Research Training Fellowship. Swift

Past Projects / Grants

• 07/2017 – 08/2018. Validation of a non-invasive magnetic resonance image based computational tool for the diagnosis of PH. MRC confidence in concept award. PI Swift. CoI’s Garg and Wild
• 01/2016 – 01/2017. Computational imaging assessment of pulmonary haemodynamics for non-invasive diagnosis of patients with pulmonary hypertension. ºù«Ӱҵ Hospitals Charitable Trust.
• 01/2015 – 08/2018. Repeatability of magnetic resonance imaging cardiopulmonary metrics in pulmonary arterial hypertension - Implications for trial design. GlaxoSmithKline. PI Swift. CoI Wild
• 2016 . BHF Clinical Research Training Fellowship (VIRTU-3). BHF FS/16/48/32306. £343,941. Gosling R, Gunn J
• 2016 . NIHR i4i. II-LB-0216-20006. £378,304. Gunn J, Morris P, Smith S, Wilkinson A, Lawford P, Hose R

Recent Publications

• Morris P, Gosling R, Zwierzak I, Evans H,  Aubiniere-Robb L, Czechowicz K, Evans P, Hose R, Lawford P, Narracott A, Gunn J. . Cardiovasc Res. 2021 May 25;117(6):1567-1577. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvaa220.
• Swift AJ, Lu H, Uthoff J, Garg P, Cogliano M, Taylor J, Metherall P, Zhou S, Johns CS, Alabed S, Condliffe RA, Lawrie A, Wild JM, Kiely DG. . Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2021 Jan 22;22(2):236-245. doi: 10.1093/ehjci/jeaa001.
• Archer GT, Elhawaz A, Barker N, Fidock B, Rothman A, van der Geest RJ, Hose R, Briffa N, Hall IR, Grech E, Bissell M, Al-Mohammad A, Treibel TA, Swift AJ, Wild JM, Garg P. . Sci Rep. 2020 Jun 29;10(1):10569. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-66659-6.
• Gabara L, Hinton J, Gunn J, Morris PD, Curzen N. Interv Cardiol. 2020 Jun 4;15:e06. doi: 10.15420/icr.2019.25.
• Barker N, Zafar H, Fidock B, Elhawaz A, Al-Mohammad A, Rothman A, Kiely DG, van der Geest RJ, Westenberg J, Swift AJ, Wild JM, Plein S, Garg P. . Sci Rep. 2020 Jun 18;10(1):9908. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-66958-y.
• Swift AJ, Dwivedi K, Johns C, Garg P, Chin M, Currie BJ, Rothman AM, Capener D, Shahin Y, Elliot CA, Charalampopolous T, Sabroe I, Rajaram S, Hill C, Wild JM, Condliffe R, Kiely DG. . Eur Radiol. 2020 Sep;30(9):4918-4929. doi: 10.1007/s00330-020-06846-1.
• Lewis RA, Billings CG, Bolger A, Bowater S, Charalampopoulos A, Clift P, Elliot CA, English K, Hamilton N, Hill C, Hurdman J, Jenkins PJ, Johns C, MacDonald S, Oliver J, Papaioannou V, Rajaram S, Sabroe I, Swift AJ, Thompson AAR, Kiely DG, Condliffe R. . Respirology. 2020 Oct;25(10):1066-1072. doi: 10.1111/resp.13815.
• Morris PD, Curzen N, Gunn JP. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 Mar 17;9(6):e015586. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.119.015586.
• Gosling RC, Sturdy J, Morris PD, Fossan FE, Hellevik LR, Lawford P, Hose DR, Gunn J. . J Biomech. 2020 Apr 16;103:109698. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2020.109698.
• Sinha S, Swift AJ, Kamil MA, Matthews S, Bull MJ, Fisher P, De Fonseka D, Saha S, Edwards JG, Johns CS. . Clin Radiol. 2020  Jun;75(6):423-432. doi: 10.1016/j.crad.2019.12.001. 
• Whitfield AJ, Solanki R, Johns CS, Kiely D, Wild J, Swift AJ. . Radiology. 2020 Feb;294(2):482. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2019192078.
• Garg P, Swift AJ, Zhong L, Carlhäll CJ, Ebbers T, Westenberg J, Hope MD, Bucciarelli-Ducci C, Bax JJ, Myerson SG. . Nat Rev Cardiol. 2020 May;17(5):298-312. doi: 10.1038/s41569-019-0305-z. 
• Lewis RA, Johns CS, Cogliano M, Capener D, Tubman E, Elliot CA, Charalampopoulos A, Sabroe I, Thompson AAR, Billings CG, Hamilton N, Baster K, Laud PJ, Hickey PM, Middleton J, Armstrong IJ, Hurdman JA, Lawrie A, Rothman AMK, Wild JM, Condliffe R, Swift AJ, Kiely DG. . Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Feb 15;201(4):458-468. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201909-1771OC.
• Fidock B, Barker N, Balasubramanian N, Archer G, Fent G, Al-Mohammad A, Richardson J, O'Toole L, Briffa N, Rothman A, van der Geest R, Hose R, Wild JM, Swift AJ, Garg P. . Front Cardiovasc Med. 2019 Aug 2;6:103. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2019.00103.
• Barker N, Fidock B, Johns CS, Kaur H, Archer G, Rajaram S, Hill C, Thomas S, Karunasaagarar K, Capener D, Al-Mohammad A, Rothman A, Kiely DG, Swift AJ, Wild JM, Garg P. . Biomed Res Int. 2019 Mar 14;2019:6074984. doi: 10.1155/2019/6074984.
• Ferraiuoli P, Fixsen LS, Kappler B, Lopata RGP, Fenner JW, Narracott AJ. . Med Eng Phys. 2019 Dec;74:146-152. doi: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2019.09.021.
• Ferraiuoli P, Kappler B, van Tuijl S, Stijnen M, de Mol BAJM, Fenner JW, Narracott AJ. . J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2019 Mar;91:294-300. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2018.11.025.
• Kiely DG, Levin D, Hassoun P, Ivy DD, Jone PN, Bwika J, Kawut SM, Lordan J, Lungu A, Mazurek J, Moledina S, Olschewski H, Peacock A, Puri GD, Rahaghi F, Schafer M, Schiebler M, Screaton N, Tawhai M, Van Beek EJ, Vonk-Noordegraaf A, Vanderpool RR, Wort J, Zhao L, Wild J, Vogel-Claussen J, Swift AJ. . Pulm Circ. 2019 Mar 18;9(3):2045894019841990. doi: 10.1177/2045894019841990.
• Gunn J, Taggart DP. . Heart. 2019 Mar;105(Suppl 2):s44-s49. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2018-313518. 
• Andrews M, Iqbal J, Wall JJ, Teare D, El-Omar M, Fath-Ordoubadi F, Gunn J. . Cardiovasc Revasc Med. 2019 Nov;20(11):980-984. doi: 10.1016/j.carrev.2018.12.020.
• Gosling RC, Morris PD, Lawford PV, Hose DR, Gunn JP. . EuroIntervention. 2019 Oct 20;15(8):707-713. doi: 10.4244/EIJ-D-18-00668.
• Saunders LC, Johns CS, Stewart NJ, Oram CJE, Capener DA, Puntmann VO, Elliot CA, Condliffe RC, Kiely DG, Graves MJ, Wild JM, Swift AJ. . J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2018 Dec 3;20(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s12968-018-0501-8.
• Johns CS, Kiely DG, Rajaram S, Hill C, Thomas S, Karunasaagarar K, Garg P, Hamilton N, Solanki R, Capener DA, Elliot C, Sabroe I, Charalamopopoulos A, Condliffe R, Wild JM, Swift AJ. . Radiology. 2019 Jan;290(1):61-68. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2018180603.
• Gosling RC, Morris PD, Lawford PV, Hose DR, Gunn JP. Front Physiol. 2018 Aug 13;9:1107. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01107.
• Johns CS, Kiely DG, Swift AJ. . Curr Opin Cardiol. 2018 Nov;33(6):587-593. doi: 10.1097/HCO.0000000000000559.
• Johns CS, Wild JM, Rajaram S, Tubman E, Capener D, Elliot C, Condliffe R, Charalampopoulos A, Kiely DG, Swift AJ. . Radiology. 2018 Oct;289(1):61-68. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2018180120.
• Chin M, Johns C, Currie BJ, Weatherley N, Hill C, Elliot C, Rajaram S, Wild JM, Condliffe R, Bianchi S, Kiely DG, Swift AJ. . Front Cardiovasc Med. 2018 Jun 8;5:53. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2018.00053.
• Garg P, Saunders LC, Swift AJ, Wild JM, Plein S. . Anatol J Cardiol. 2018 Jun;19(6):404-411. doi: 10.14744/AnatolJCardiol.2018.39586.
• Gosling RC, Morris PD, Silva Soto DA, Lawford PV, Hose DR, Gunn JP. . JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2019 May;12(5):865-872. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2018.01.019. 
• Currie BJ, Johns C, Chin M, Charalampopolous T, Elliot CA, Garg P, Rajaram S, Hill C, Wild JW, Condliffe RA, Kiely DG, Swift AJ. . Int J Cardiol. 2018 Jun 1;260:172-177. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2018.02.114. 
• Johns CS, Wild JM, Rajaram S, Swift AJ, Kiely DG. . Expert Rev Respir Med. 2018 Feb;12(2):145-160. doi: 10.1080/17476348.2018.1420478. Erratum in: Expert Rev Respir Med. 2018 Jun;12(6):1.