A 2017 pilot study explored the utility of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in detecting biomarkers of heart transplant rejection in children. Now the co-leader of that study, Jonathan Soslow, M.D., director of the Pediatric Cardiac Imaging Research Center at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital, is commencing a larger NIH study to confirm those findings.

"We might be able to eliminate 50 to 80 percent of biopsies and improve outcomes long-term."

The broad goal is to detect rejection non-invasively and at a lower cost than with biopsy. "We want to put patients through as few catheterizations with biopsies as possible," Soslow said. "Adult studies suggest that CMR may be a safer, less costly method of detecting rejection." The new study is designed to determine the best combination of screening tests.