Cancer scan could double as free heart health check, OUH say

Professor Daniel McGowan, head of education and research in the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH), will lead the Oxford part of the EU-funded COMPASS project, a five-year collaboration involving more than 60 partners across 25 countries.

Backed by the EU’s Innovative Health Initiative and supported by GE HealthCare, the consortium is exploring how PET scans, commonly used to monitor cancer, could also be adapted to assess heart health.

Professor McGowan, who is also based at the University of Oxford’s Department of Oncology, said: “The aim is that when a person has a PET scan to check on their cancer, we could effectively give them a free heart check at the same time.

“With this additional information, we can stratify patients into those who need to see a cardiologist fairly urgently, those who we’d like to monitor, and those whose hearts are healthy.”

The COMPASS project is focused on improving early detection of heart problems in cancer patients and survivors using advanced medical imaging and digital technology.

Some forms of chemotherapy are known to increase the risk of heart damage, and with cancer survival rates improving, long-term cardiovascular monitoring is becoming increasingly important.

Professor McGowan said that by using PET scans to screen for heart issues, many patients could avoid undergoing separate echocardiograms or other cardiac imaging.

He said this would reduce the time and stress often associated with additional testing.

A PET (positron emission tomography) scan uses a small amount of radioactive tracer to highlight areas of high metabolic activity, helping doctors monitor cancer progression or treatment response.

The technology could also reveal early signs of heart damage, potentially transforming follow-up care for cancer patients.

The Oxford team’s involvement builds on existing research, including work with research scientist Zoe Wilson, who is completing her doctorate at the university’s Department of Oncology, and collaborations with colleagues in Cardiff.

The more than €50 million COMPASS programme includes access to data from hospitals across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

This broad dataset is expected to support the development of AI and machine learning tools to identify patients most at risk of heart problems.

Professor McGowan said: “This dedicated funding will enable us to expand and accelerate our efforts in this field, which should speed up the translation of our research work into clinical care, and ultimately get the benefit to patients quicker.”

Approximately €399,000 (£347,000) of the funding will be allocated to OUH, supporting its work within the international project.