Ventricular fibrillation during acute myocardial infarction

Today we do not know which patients will develop rhythmic disturbances in the heart after occlusion (blood clot) of the coronary vessel to the heart muscle, resulting in ischemic heart disease, and which patients who will not.

The ultimate goal of this project is to be able to predict the individuals in high risk of developing lethal electrical disturbances after a blood clot. This goal is obtained by using information from patients with and without these disturbances, transfer this knowledge to a pig model where the causes can be investigated much more thoroughly and finally use this new knowledge for better treatment of patients having ischemic heart disease.

Further, patients having ischemic heart disease have profound increased risk of developing rhythmic disturbances a long time after the insult. By applying a highly advanced longer duration pig model, mimicking the human situation, we will be capable of generating more exact knowledge of how to treat these patients.

Mentors:

Basic mentor: Professor Thomas Jespersen, Department of Biomedicinal Sciences, The University of Copenhagen

Clinical mentor: Professor Jacob Tfelt-Hansen, Department of Cardiology, Rigshospitalet