Risk stratification in coronary artery disease

Over het proefschrift:
Cardiovascular disease, including coronary artery disease, is still one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in Western and developing countries. After decades of decline, it is expected that the proportion of cardiovascular disease will increase again, accompanied by high healthcare costs. Therefore, cardiovascular disease is a rising major global health problem. Atherosclerosis, a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disease, is the main cause of coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis is not limited to the coronary arteries, but is a systemic disease, which can result in complications like myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral artery disease.
With the use of coronary CT-angiography it is possible to visualize characteristics of coronary artery disease, especially the presence, extent, degree and morphology of coronary plaques. Coronary CT-angiography has a reasonable diagnostic accuracy to detect obstructive coronary artery disease and a proven prognostic value to predict major adverse cardiovascular events.
In this thesis, we related characteristics of coronary artery disease, as measured with coronary CT-angiography, with (bio)markers, as a first step in order to improve risk stratification in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. Furthermore, we tried to gain more insight into underlying mechanisms between atherosclerosis, coagulation and immunology.
Over de auteur:
Ivo A.P.G. Joosen was born on the 26th of August 1981 in Nederweert, the Netherlands. He completed his secondary education in 1998 at the Philips van Horne College in Weert after which he started his nursing training at the Fontys Academy in Eindhoven. In 2002 he graduated and went to work as a nurse. Subsequently, in 2003 he started his medical training at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Maastricht. After electives in cardiology, both clinically as well as scientifically oriented, he obtained his medical degree in 2009. In the same year, he started working on his PhD project under the joint supervision of Prof. Dr. L. Hofstra and Prof. Dr. J.E. Wildberger at the Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC) and the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM). His scientific research was focused on coronary CT-angiography, and the most important results formed the basis of this thesis. He was allowed to present his work at several (inter)national congresses. During his PhD, he worked as a cardiology nurse at the St. Anna Hospital in Geldrop. Moreover, he was involved in education of medical students, medical interns and both domestic and foreign radiologists, cardiologists and CT-technicians during several "hands-on" training sessions, organized by the Cardiovascular Imaging and Research Center (CIRC). In March 2013 he started his work as cardiology resident at the MUMC.