The Dutch Heart Foundation has awarded an “Established Investigator” grant to Prof. Dr. Frances de Man from the Amsterdam UMC. She is conducting research to better understand and prevent right heart failure in pulmonary hypertension.
When the blood pressure in the lungs is too high (in pulmonary hypertension), the right ventricle has to work harder to pump blood to the lungs. In some patients, the right ventricle adapts very well to this high pressure, becoming thicker and stronger. Unfortunately, in other patients, this is not the case. The right ventricle becomes thinner and larger, leading to insufficient blood circulation. This is known as right heart failure, an incurable disease that ultimately leads to death.
Researcher Prof. Dr. Frances de Man aims to investigate why the right ventricle can adapt well in some people and not in others. She will do this in three ways:
1. A new way to measure the condition of the right ventricle: “I have a new
method that allows me to easily measure whether the right ventricle has become stiffer,”
explains Prof, De Man. “This is crucial information because patients whose right ventricle cannot relax well experience many symptoms and have a shorter lifespan.”
2. Measuring important substances in the right atrium: “When the pressure in the atria is too high, they can release hormones. I want to know which hormones increase first and if we can use this to detect early signs of a patient’s deteriorating heart.”
3. Testing a new treatment, not a medication: a kind of clip that people can wear on their ear. “This may sound strange, but by providing very small electrical impulses to the ear, we can activate the nerve that ultimately calms the heart a bit. It could be an important new treatment that might prevent right heart failure.”
Grant information
Grant type: Established Investigator
Amount: 775,000 euros
Duration: 5 years
Location: Amsterdam UMC
The full article, in Dutch, can be read at this link
