ULTRASOUND SYSTEM FOR CARDIOVASCULAR PHENOTYPE STUDIES IN HUMANS

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY This Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) proposal in response to PAR-18-600 is requesting a state-of-the art, commercially-available GE Vivid E95 Ultrasound System (single item) which will be used for exquisite cardiovascular phenotyping of humans for clinical and translational research studies sponsored by the NIH and NGOs at Washington University. The requested system will be housed and operated in the Cardiovascular Imaging and Clinical Research Core Laboratory (CIRCL) at Washington University. This dedicated ultrasound system will replace an existing ultrasound system which was purchased through the SIG mechanism in May 2009, and will be 10 years old by the time it is replaced through the current proposal. The current ultrasound system has been the workhorse of CIRCL, where the number of cardiac and vascular ultrasound studies has been significant since its original acquisition. Two major issues justify replacement: 1) the system has been malfunctioning, causing frequent service interruptions to the Major User Group despite repeated repairs through a service contract. The system is nearing its useful end of life; and 2) the current system operates on a Windows XP Operating System which is no longer supported by WU-IT and represents a security risk, as the images are downloaded to a WU database directly from the ultrasound system. The requested system will serve a Major User Group composed of 10 NIH-funded investigators at WU, representing a diverse range of disciplines, divisions, and departments. Each member of the User Group has benefitted from the present system, and significant use of the system has been shown during the past 9 years. The requested shared instrument will continue to have a major impact on the success of current and future NIH-supported research activities of the User Group and the clinical research community at Washington University. The requested system will have the same administrative and leadership structure that has served well for the past 20 years: it will be Maintained and Supervised by a Technical Director; the CIRCL Director and PI and Advisory Board will provide Administrative and Scientific oversight. This state-of-the-art cardiovascular ultrasound imaging system will continue to promote the success of the User Group research programs and facilitate multidisciplinary efforts aimed at the characterization of cardiac and vascular structure and function for clinical and translational studies. The requested ultrasound system is critical for clinical research studies targeting major research areas, including: 1) Evaluation of cardiac structure and systolic/diastolic function in diseases such as hypertension, systolic and diastolic heart failure, T2D and T1D, HIV, cardiomyopathies, obesity/weight loss, and cardiovascular disease in pregnancy; 2) Evaluation of vascular structure and function by carotid intima- media thickness (CIMT) and brachial artery reactivity testing (BART) in T2D, vitamin D deficiency, and utility in development of novel radiotracers and nanotechnologies. Acquisition of the new ultrasound system will provide immediate benefit to the user group in accomplishing the scientific goals of their NIH funded projects.