Projects

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the world and has a tremendous impact on our society. Since major diseases are associated with dysfunction of the left ventricle, the accurate assessment of ventricular function during all phases of the heart cycle is fundamental. This goal may be facilitated by ultrasound imaging, which is in general appreciated for its bedside applicability, good temporal resolution, real-time ...

An increasing number of people suffer cardiovascular diseases and experience myocardial infarction (MI). The subsequent heart remodeling is characterized by weaker contractility, hypertrophy and lethal arrhythmias. The poorly-understood underlying mechanism is related to calcium (Ca2+) mishandling in cardiomyocytes and oxidative stress. To date, most of the studies described global cellular processes and were unable to propose efficient ...

The liver is a crucial organ in metabolism and removal of waste products from the body. Hereto, the liver parenchyma receives a mix of nutrient-rich blood from the portal vein and oxygen-rich blood from the hepatic artery. Blood flows through the sinusoids and leaves the liver via the central and hepatic veins. Hepatic sinusoids are highly specialised channels in which hepatocytes are organised in zones according to their position relative to ...

65,000 aortic valve replacements (AVR) are performed in Europe each year to treat acquired and congenital aortic valve diseases. In affected patients, mortality without AVR is extremely high and 50 % die within 2 years. Current AVR options are, however, limited for young patients - especially female patients - and those unwilling to accept life-long medical anticoagulation with its inherent risks. None of the currently available prostheses ...

Heart failure is the first cause of death in industrialized countries. Despite the use of medical therapy a certain percentage of patients (PTs) will progress to end stage heart failure. In this case the ventricular assist device (VAD) is a viable therapy that nowadays is used increasingly not only as a bridge to transplantation, but also as destination therapy and as a bridge to recovery. Therefore, there is a clinical need to understand how ...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes a major and increasing health burden in developed countries. The prediction is that the prevalence of these conditions will increase by ~60% over the next 20 years. Therefore, the development of novel treatments for patients with CVD becomes more and more urgent. Oxidative stress is an important molecular contributor to the pathogenesis of CVD. However, oxidative stress-related therapeutic strategies ...

Heart failure affects 15 million Europeans. EPLORE documented the longitudinal changes in diastolic left ventricular function over 5-year time span in a randomly selected cohort representative for the Flemish population. We showed that subclinical (asymptomatic) diastolic left ventricular dysfunction affects 25% of the population and is a predictor of cardiac and cardiovascular complications. We implemented novel and completely ...