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RecruitingNCT05654272CIRCUpdated May 8, 2026

Development of CIRC Technologies

An observational study in Cardiovascular Diseases, Heart Failure and Ischemic Heart Disease, sponsored by The Cleveland Clinic. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-08.

Sponsored by The Cleveland Clinic · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Sep 2022; still recruiting 4 years 2 months later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
1,000
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Advanced cardiovascular imaging using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has proven to be effective in providing gold standard myocardial tissue characterization. Moreover, the intrinsic advantage of MRI's lack of exposure to ionizing radiation is particularly beneficial. At the same time, blood work can be very useful in early detection of certain cardiomyopathy, such as amyloid. However, there is a lack of agreement of on which markers are the most sensitive. This multi-study will allow us the unique opportunity to form a more comprehensive understanding for various cardiovascular diseases.

Our team has developed novel cardiac MRI techniques that leverages endogenous tissue properties to reveal a milieu of deep tissue phenotypes including myocardial inflammation, fibrosis, metabolism, and microstructural defects. Among these phenotypes, myocardial microstructure has proven to be most sensitive to early myocardial tissue damage and is predictive of myocardial regeneration. In this study, the investigators aim to further study the importance of cardiac microstructure revealed by MRI in patient and healthy population and compare this novel technology with conventional clinical biomarkers.

Read the detailed description

The primary clinical objective of the clinical study is to determine and compare cardiac microstructural phenotypes by cardiac MRI in patients and healthy controls and their relationship to cardiac structure/function with our MRI technologies.

Aim 1: What are the myocardial microstructure phenotypes in both patients with cardiovascular disease and healthy cohorts? Are they linked to other prevalent macro structure and functional abnormalities?

The hypothesis is that the investigators can develop the next generation cardiac MRI exam that is faster, more robust, and more efficient for clinic use.

The enrolled subjects will do ONE of the following:

  • Receive an extended clinical cardiac MRI exam. An MRI is an imaging technique used in radiology to make an accurate picture of the body. In this study the investigators will be focusing on the heart. The participant's routine clinical cardiac MRI exam will be extended by up to 25 min to perform a truncated research cardiac MRI protocol. The extended clinical cardiac MRI will take approximately one hour in total. The investigators may review the medical records to follow-up their medical status up to 5 years after start of the study.

OR:

  • Receive a research cardiac non-contrast MRI exam. An MRI is an imaging technique used in radiology to make an accurate picture of the body. In this study the investigators will be focusing on the heart. The research cardiac MRI will take approximately one to two hours in total. The investigators may review the medical records to follow-up their medical status up to 5 years after start of the study

Optionally, if the subjects agree, the blood samples will be collected:

  • Give blood sample for research purpose only. The blood draw is used to correlate the clinical blood biomarkers to the cardiac MRI data to help us better understand and validate the clinical utility of the novel cardiac MRI techniques. The blood draws should approximately take 20 minutes. The blood draw will take place in the doctor's office or at Mellen center private preparation by a registered nurse or approved technician. The blood will be stored with a unique code at Cleveland Clinic BioRepository for up to 10 years, and disposed following Cleveland Clinic guidelines. It may be used for future research in the Cleveland Clinic. Only members of the research team will have access to the participant's samples.

For healthy control:

  • Only one cardiac MRI is needed, and it will be non-contrast MRI.
02

Conditions studied

  • Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Heart Failure
  • Ischemic Heart Disease
  • Non-ischemic Cardiomyopathy
  • Valvular Heart Disease
  • Metabolic Cardiomyopathy
  • Congenital Heart Disease
  • Aortic Diseases
  • Atrial Fibrillation
  • Ventricular Fibrillation

Keywords

  • MRI
03

In context

Cardiovascular Diseases

5,368 studies on the registry are indexed under Cardiovascular Diseases; 939 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 1,000 is above the median of 506 across 1,572 observational studies indexed under Cardiovascular Diseases.

Browse Cardiovascular Diseases studies →

Lead sponsor

The Cleveland Clinic is the lead sponsor of 831 studies on the registry; 119 are open to participants now.

Of its 90 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 73 (81%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

The study population will consist of approximately 1000 eligible subjects either with cardiovascular disease or are healthy subjects. The investigators plan to enroll 800 patients and 200 healthy controls.

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age ≥ 18 years of age
  • Provision of written
  • If not healthy volunteer, must be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Vulnerable populations will be excluded from this study including Prisoners
  • Other to CMR imaging to be determined by standard MRI protocols
  • Decisionally impaired (e.g., dementia or cognitive disability)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
1,000 participants (estimated)
Target follow-up
20 Years
Patient registry
Yes
Biospecimen retention
Samples with dna

Groups and cohorts

  • Normal

    Normal volunteers \>=18 years older

    Diagnostic Test: MRI

  • Cardiovascular Disease Patient

    \>=18years older with known prior cardiovascular disease

    Diagnostic Test: MRI

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testMRI

    Cardiac MRI

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Myocardial Microstructure (Helix Angle) via Next Generation Cardiac MRI

    The primary clinical objective of the clinical study is to determine and compare cardiac microstructural phenotypes by cardiac MRI in patients and healthy controls

    Time frame: 20 years

  2. Myocardial Function (Ejection Fraction) via Conventional Cardiac MRI

    Measure cardiac function with conventional cardiac MRI to compare with other primary outcome of microstructure

    Time frame: 20 years

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Cardiovascular Innovation Research Center
    Cleveland, Ohio 44195, United States
    Recruiting
    • Lily Chen · Contactchens7@ccf.org · 216-445-8561
    • Christopher Nguyen, PhD · Principal investigator
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 8, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05654272
Responsible party
Christopher Nguyen (Director of Cardiovascular Innovation Research Center, The Cleveland Clinic) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 16, 2022
Start date
Sep 9, 2022
Primary completion
Sep 9, 2032 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 9, 2042 (estimated)
Last update
May 8, 2026

Study contacts

CIRC Program Coordinator
Contact
circ@ccf.org
216 636-5373
CIRC Study Coordinator
Contact
chens7@ccf.org

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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