Rotation Grant: Validation and evaluation of a non-invasive assessment of central venous oxygen saturation by CMR

The central blood oxygen level very close to or in the heart is a key parameter to differentiate between different diseases and it provides the chance of a better prognosis. Up to now the gold standard to measure requires an invasive procedure by a right catheterization, where cathether is pushed through veins into the right heart chamber. With this catheter blood samples can be taken, and their oxygen level can be measured. Since the number of patients requiring the measurement of the blood oxygen level increases due to an aging population and a higherincidence of cardiac diseases there is a need for a safe and non-invasive alternative approach to the right heart catheterization with fewer complications. This 2-step-study aims to (i) demonstrate that a method to measure the blood oxygen level non-invasively by cardiac MRI is as reliable as measuring it by right heart catheter and (ii) identify different levels of blood oxygen levels in different diseases by this method to better distinguish the reasons for patients presenting with shortness of breath which can be a symptom for cardiac diseases.