Projects

Exercise oscillatory ventilation (EOV) is a strong prognostic parameter indicating early mortality. Before, this abnormal breathing pattern is often unrecognized because it is assessed subjectively by visual inspection or manually computed. The goal of this proof-of-concept, is to obtain automated detection of EOV and to create a clinical applicable interface. This interface could be integrated in existing cardiopulmonary exercise test software ...

The postdoc will help in a planned clinical study that aims to define the role of exercise testing and cardiac rehabilitation in the detection and prevention of early-stage heart failure. The postdoc will be the key person for the study preparation, patient recruitment, the data acquisition and post-processing, the biobanking and the data management related to the study. He will also continue analysing data from the Flemish Study on Environment, ...

Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are a valuable option for the treatment of end stage heart failure patients. VAD patients show a stable hemodynamic at rest but their exercise capacity is strongly limited. Aim of this project is to develop an 'in vivo' ovine model to study the hemodynamic interaction between the VAD and the native ventricle during exercise. In addition an 'in vitro' cardiorespiratory simulator will be implemented to reproduce ...

Clinical exercise tests could improve the personalized risk profiling and management of cardiovascular disease. Yet, current practice only considers a limited selection of cardiopulmonary exercise indexes in isolation. To utilize the full value of clinical exercise testing data, we will apply advanced machine learning (ML) approaches on big data that has been collected/will be collected in patients at UZ Leuven (n=1800) and within the general ...

Heart failure is the cardiovascular epidemic of the 21st century, due to population ageing and improved cardiovascular therapy. Half of heart failure patients has a preserved ejection fraction, but little is known about these 'HFpEF' patients. HFpEF pathophysiology is incompletely understood, and no existing treatment is able to improve prognosis (50% mortality at 5 years). A complicating factor is the heterogeneity of HFpEF patients: different ...

The onset of clinical symptoms of cognitive impairment may be delayed by interventions that focus on increasing cognitive reserve of older persons. Brain exercises may increase this cognitive reserve by measuring and training skills such as memory, attention, dual-tasking ability, and psychomotor control. Unfortunately there is a problem with respect to adherence to intervention programs with brain fitness products. There is a mismatch between ...