Cardio Deconditioning

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a non-invasive imaging technique that can give information of the size and shape of the heart, function of the ventricles, blood flow, and presence of coronary artery disease markers. This ongoing ESA project aims to use CMR to create a database of the cardiovascular system of ESA astronauts, which could help determine short-term changes in shape and function of the cardiovascular system as well as allow comparisons with well-characterized head-down (-6°) tilt bed rest (HDBR) studies, which have been broadly used as physiological analogs of spaceflight for decades.

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