Heart failure affects more than four million people in Germany. If the condition is detected early and treated appropriately, patients' quality of life and life expectancy can be improved and long hospital stays avoided. This is where the ‘HerzCheck’ project of the German Heart Centre at Charité (DHZC) comes in: innovative cardiac MRI examinations are used to detect heart failure at an early stage, when patients often have no symptoms yet. With the inclusion of the first patients, the project has now officially started in Berlin.
Project overview
HerzCheck is bringing stationary and mobile MRI units to a total of five major German cities. Participating patients will be examined by trained medical staff in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main or Munich. A total of 450 patients are to be examined between mid-September and mid-December 2025.
The results are monitored and evaluated by experienced physicians at the DHZC. They examine whether early cardiac MRI examination can help improve the prognosis and quality of life of asymptomatic patients with newly diagnosed heart failure. Participating patients and physicians receive a detailed report with recommendations for further treatment.
Eligibility requirements
Patients aged between 40 and 69 who suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, elevated blood lipids (hyperlipoproteinemia) and/or renal insufficiency, or who smoke, and who have not previously been diagnosed with heart failure, are eligible to participate in the project.
Participation in the MRI examination is organised by the responsible doctor. Appointments can also be booked via the project website: https://www.herzcheck.org/kontakt/
The previous study
The project builds on the findings of the first phase of the HerzCheck project: over a period of four years, more than 4,500 patients were examined at a total of 12 rural locations in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Using state-of-the-art MRI diagnostics, almost a quarter of them were found to have subclinical heart failure, in which heart function has deteriorated but no symptoms have yet appeared. On average, those affected were identified almost seven years earlier than heart failure patients in a control group of around 8,500 patients who were examined using conventional methods.
The project goal
‘With the “HerzCheck” follow-up project, we want to contribute to cross-sector, state-of-the-art medical care for the population across a wide area and to improving the quality of life of patients,’ says the medical director of the project, Prof. Sebastian Kelle, MD, head of cardiovascular imaging at the German Heart Centre at Charité (DHZC), Campus Virchow-Klinikum. ‘The more precisely we understand regional differences between urban and rural areas, the better we can develop solutions to improve patient care nationwide and avoid long hospital stays.’
