IMPRESS

2021

In the past decade, there has been significant progress in understanding sex- and gender-based differences in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, this knowledge remains scattered across medical literature, highlighting the need for a centralized platform accessible to healthcare professionals, scientists, policymakers, and patients. The IMPRESS consortium aims to establish a knowledge platform focused on gathering, summarizing, and prioritizing existing knowledge related to sex- and gender-specific aspects of CVD. This initiative seeks to promote the implementation of existing knowledge into clinical practice, identify knowledge gaps, and inform policymakers about areas requiring additional attention.

In substantial portions of women with symptoms of myocardial ischemia, obstructive disease in the epicardial coronary arteries is absent. Currently, such women undergo multiple diagnostic tests, which do not always result in a conclusive diagnosis. IMPRESS seeks to reduce missed and delayed diagnoses of heart diseases in women, improving cardiovascular care outcomes nationwide. The knowledge platform will serve as a national resource, fostering collaboration and supporting the adoption of sex- and gender-sensitive practices in cardiovascular medicine.

The Research
IMPRESS consolidates existing knowledge, fosters research, and implements findings into practice wherever possible (for example by creating a Decision Support Tool for primary care and for cardiologists). Within the IMPRESS consortium, the following studies are being conducted:

Delphi study: delayed or missed diagnosis of heart disease
Silent heart attacks: causes, symptoms, and risk factors of silent myocardial infarctions
UMCU-IMPRESS pilot study: undetected coronary microvascular disease (CMD)
Peripheral-Flow: LASCA technique in CMD
Dutch registry of coronary function tests

The origin

In the past decade, the understanding of sex- and gender differences in CVD has considerably improved. However, relevant evidence is scattered throughout the medical literature. There is a need to make this information easily accessible to health care professionals, scientists, policy makers and patients. Implementation of existing knowledge in clinical practice will then be promoted, knowledge gaps identified, and policy makers informed on the areas that need additional attention. This is also of high importance to the Dutch Heart Foundation, which therefore funded the IMPRESS consortium; a collaboration between several DCVA partners; the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Cardiologie (NVVC), WCN, Netherlands Heart Institute (NLHI), ZonMw and the Dutch Heart Foundation, supported by the DCVA.

Collaborators

Contact person:

Tess Yntema

tess.yntema@heart-institute.nl

Principal investigators

Prof. Dr. H. den Ruijter (Hester)

H.M.denRuijter-2@umcutrecht.nl

Prof. Dr. ir. H. Boersma (Eric)

h.boersma@erasmusmc.nl

See all investigators

Cardiomyopathies, caused by genetic mutations affecting cardiac muscle components, pose significant economic and societal burdens due to their hereditary nature and early onset. Despite known genetic defects, predicting disease progression remains challenging due to extreme clinical variability. Recent research indicates that cardiomyopathy mutations induce metabolic stress, exacerbated by factors like obesity, which can accelerate disease progression. The Double Dose hypothesis suggests that targeting metabolic stress may offer preventive or curative strategies for these conditions.
The Focus
The Double Dose Consortium aims to understand how cardiomyopathy-causing mutations lead to structural changes in cardiomyocytes. This interdisciplinary effort combines experts in preclinical research, clinical genetics, health technology assessment, and clinical care focused on cardiomyopathy in both children and adults.
The Research
The consortium combines experts in preclinical research, clinical genetics, health technology assessment and clinical researchers with a strong clinical focus on cardiomyopathy in children and adults. These experts investigate how obesity and muscle adiposity contribute to vascular and cardiac muscle dysfunction in mutation carriers through the analysis of clinical data, patient samples, and experimental models. They will also study the mechanisms underlying ultrastructural changes in cardiomyocytes caused by these mutations, leading to impaired metabolism, contraction, relaxation defects, and disrupted cellular communication within the heart.
Utilizing extensive patient cohorts and ongoing studies, the consortium aims to optimize care for cardiomyopathy patients by assessing the cost-effectiveness of diagnostics and clinical interventions. They plan to translate findings on metabolic alterations into clinical trials targeting treatments that reduce metabolic stress. The Double Dose program will establish biobanks containing serum, tissue, and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) to provide mechanistic insights into cardiomyopathy pathophysiology and improve diagnosis and care.
Origin
This consortium was funded through the Impulse Grant program by the Dutch Heart Foundation, together with Stichting Hartedroom. The consortium is a continuation of the Dosis consortium, in which the interaction between mutation and external factors was investigated. They found that cardiomyopathy-mutations induce metabolic stress and that secondary metabolic stress, such as obesity accelerates disease progression.
 

Learn more

MyDigiTwin

2020

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading global cause of mortality and morbidity, with ischemic heart disease (IHD) representing approximately half of all CVD-related deaths. Precise, personalized risk assessment and treatment recommendations are crucial for addressing the diverse population at risk of CVD. Current standard approaches rely on algorithms that incorporate a limited set of traditional risk factors to estimate CVD and IHD risk. However, significant cardiovascular events often occur in individuals categorized as low risk, underscoring the need for ongoing research to enhance preventive strategies.
The Focus
The MyDigiTwin initiative aims to provide individuals with personalized insights into their cardiac health, enabling proactive monitoring and management of cardiovascular conditions. This integrated digital health platform empowers individuals to take control of their cardiac health by offering accessible, data-driven insights and tools.
The Research
MyDigiTwin is a pioneering research initiative focused on revolutionizing cardiac health management by integrating advanced AI technologies with extensive patient data. The development of MyDigiTwin involves harnessing large-scale longitudinal datasets from over 500,000 patients, combined with sophisticated AI algorithms. This approach enables the platform to analyze diverse health parameters and generate tailored recommendations for users based on their unique health profiles. By leveraging AI and comprehensive patient data, MyDigiTwin represents an innovative approach to preventive and personalized healthcare, facilitating early detection and intervention for cardiovascular conditions.
Origin
This project was funded within the Big Data & Health Program. The focus of this public-private research program is the use of big data for the early detection and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The program has been developed by NWO, ZonMw, the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Top Sectors Life Sciences & Health (LSH), ICT and Creative Industry, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Netherlands eScience Center. Within this research program, the ambitions of the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and the Netherlands eScience Center were aligned with the ambitions of Commit2Data for the Top Sectors ICT, LSH, and Creative Industry, as described in the 2018-2019 Kennis- en Innovatiecontracts between NWO and the Top Sectors.

Learn more

1 2 3 … 22 Volgende »