We all know that exercise is good for us – it boosts heart health, builds strength, reduces stress, and lowers the risk of chronic disease. For most people, regular physical activity is one of the best ways to improve long-term wellbeing.
But what if the act of exercise itself could tell us potentially lifesaving information about our hearts? This is where a new imaging technique at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne is changing the game.
At the centre of this groundbreaking work is Professor André La Gerche, Head of the HEART Laboratory and a world-leading cardiologist. His team is using advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology in a new way – to study the heart while it’s working at full capacity, not just when it’s at rest.
Typically, most cardiologists or doctors test patients’ hearts while they are lying still. But Prof La Gerche points out that many heart symptoms rarely occur while resting.
“No one comes in and says, ‘I'm short of breath when I'm lying watching TV.’ They say, ‘I'm short of breath when I walk the stairs,’” he said.
His team has therefore adopted a novel approach where patients lie in the MRI machine and pedal on a specially designed bicycle setup, raising their heart rate as the scan takes place. This exercise-based imaging allows the team to see how all four chambers of the heart are functioning in real time, under stress. It's a major advantage over traditional cardiac imaging, which often can’t capture such a comprehensive view.
“The heart is only as good as its weakest chamber,” said Prof La Gerche. “By assessing all four chambers at the same time, we get an insight into where the heart’s Achilles heel is during exercise.”
These detailed images help uncover scarring, inflammation, arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation and other hidden issues that might not show up on other types of scans. Most importantly, this deeper insight means cardiologists can tailor treatments to each individual.
“Once we understand what’s happening, we can direct the therapy and provide a specific treatment for the patient – it’s personalised medicine,” he said.
For Prof La Gerche, the goal is clear: make exercise safer for everyone. While the benefits of physical activity are undeniable, being able to detect early warning signs in certain individuals means they can keep doing what they love, safely.
“If I could leave that sort of thumbprint on the research world, I’d be very happy,” he said.
But there’s one major hurdle: the St Vincent’s current MRI machines are stretched to capacity with urgent clinical use, leaving almost no time for research imaging.
Significant philanthropic investment of $2.7 million is required to purchase a dedicated MRI machine so that Prof La Gerche and his group can dramatically accelerate their research.
Despite the lack of resources, Prof La Gerche's Melbourne-based lab has emerged as one of the most productive in the field of sports cardiology over the past five years, competing with multi-million-dollar research institutes around the world.
“We’ve proven what we can do with a small, focused team and a few tools,” he said. “If someone put $2.7 million into our research unit, we would do justice to every single dollar of that. We've proven that, and we’d prove it again.”
Their pioneering research could lead to a global shift in how we test for and treat heart conditions for everyone, from elite athletes to everyday individuals.
For more information about the philanthropic investment required for the MRI machine, and to support Prof. Le Gerche’s research program, please contact Anthony North, Senior Philanthropy Manager, at anthony.north@svha.org.au or call (03) 9231 3361.
