Center of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, Lucknow

Human bile

Human bile is a complex mixture of numerous metabolites. In order to study various diseases it is essential to identify the various components of human bile. The Centre has discovered a novel, unique, specific and single step method to identify and quantify such a large number of metabolites present in the bile. This has led to study several problems related to Human Bile.

A new approach to assess the quality of the liver graft

Of 10 patients who underwent liver transplant, at SGPGIMS three died before they were discharged from the hospital though surgically all operations appeared satisfactory. The work carried out in the Centre explored the possible reason for the death. Studies on blood and urine samples of patients revealed high levels of glutamine in both blood and urine along with reduced urea levels in urine. The decreased urea implies impairment in urea cycle and increased glutamine levels lead to brain death. This is medically useful information since it gives prior information on what is going to happen and one may take corrective measures in advance to save the lives.

Determining therapeutic outcome in FHF

Fulminant Hepatic Failures (FHF) are associated with severe liver injuries leading to impairment of hepatic function. The mortality rate in such cases is as high as 80%. Liver transplant for FHF patients appears to be the only effective answer to this. Since the survival rates are low, rapid diagnosis is necessary to identify patients for transplantation. Until today, there is no means to predict the spontaneous recovery or non-recovery of the liver with for such patients. The work carried out at the Centre has provided an answer.

Bacterial urinary tract infection

Qualitative and quantitative estimations of metabolites produced as a result of bacterial infection in the urinary tract have been made. Absolute concentrations of the metabolites provide the severity of the infection and, are likely to be very valuable in patients on antibiotic therapy with negative urine cultures. A method has been developed for the quick, reliable and non-invasive method to detect the urinary Tract Infection and to identify the bacteria responsible for such infections. The method provides results within a few minutes compared to several hours using the conventional methods.

Diagnosis of the diseases such as Malabsorption Syndrome

Malabsorption Syndrome (MS) is a common cause of chronic diarrhea. MS refers to a group of diseases in which nutrient absorption from gut is impaired. A rapid, non-invasive and reliable method to diagnose this disease has been developed by the Centre.