Diagnostics & Devices:
Metabolic Vital Signs™: Real-Time Viability Imaging for Heart Transplantation
Gaurav Sharma, Ph.D., M.B.A.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
- Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) and Department of Biomedical Engineering, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Today, transplant teaM.S. have no direct way to measure whether a donor heart is truly alive at the cellular level. This technology acts like a ‘metabolic ECG’, using advanced MRI to watch how heart cells generate energy in real time. By tracking safe metabolic tracers, it reveals whether the heart’s “power plants” are functioning or failing before transplantation. This enables objective, data-driven decisions that could save more donor hearts and improve transplant outcomes. The platform has broad expansion potential across organ transplantation, organ preservation systeM.S., and high-value cardiac diagnostics.
