Richard Thompson, PhD

Mechanisms of Reduced Exercise Capacity: Insights from Novel MRI Methods

Reduced exercise capacity (reduced VO₂max, oxygen consumption) is a hallmark feature of heart failure, affecting quality of life and reflecting disease severity and outcomes.  Survivors of breast cancer therapy are at increased risk for heart failure, also with characteristic reduced exercise capacity.  Effective therapies will need to target the underlying mechanisms of reduced oxygen consumption with exercise. We have developed and implemented an array MRI approaches to study the contributing mechanisms of reduced exercise capacity including measurement of cardiac function (output) and oxygen extraction during exercise, measurement of lung water content (pulmonary edema) in the context of heart failure and imaging of adipose tissues (e.g. intermuscular fat).  These methods will be described and illustrated in the context of heart failure and breast cancer cardiotoxicity.

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Professor, Department of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada