Ulf Hedin, Professor of Vascular Surgery at Karolinska Institutet, and Christian Gasser, Professor of Biomechanics at KTH, are jointly leading a new research project focusing on technology to enable individual treatment of fatal forms of stroke and carotid artery disease. The project is now being granted research funding of SEK 4.5 million per year for five years by MedTechLabs.
The research project "Improving health care in peripheral vascular disease: from population-based to individualized decision-making" aim to improve diagnostics in important disease areas: peripheral vascular disease and epilepsy. In addition to a clear link to clinical application, the projects have great potential to contribute to better treatment of broad patient groups both in Sweden and internationally
Stroke disease from carotid atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysm rupture and aortic rupture account for a significant proportion of cardiovascular disease mortality with major consequences for both individuals and society. Today, these diseases are managed with strategies based on population studies where the choice of treatment is based on algorithms that optimize treatment outcomes for many, but far from all, patients. New technologies for molecular, morphological, biomechanical and imaging analyses make it possible to profile patients to individualize their risk assessment and treatment.
The new project is based on a translational research platform in collaboration between the Vascular Surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, SciLifeLab and the Department of Materials and Structural Mechanics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Initially, the researchers will develop molecular markers in blood, biomarkers, through advanced protein analysis for patients at high risk in each disease. In the next step, high-resolution imaging will be implemented to characterize in detail molecular, morphological and biomechanical features for risk assessment of disease expression. With this approach, patients with established clinical risk factors for unfavorable disease progression can be stepwise risk assessed and efficiently selected for appropriate treatment. This optimizes both individual survival and the use of health care resources.
"Our research project is based on an already well established collaboration between researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, SciLifeLab and KTH, which gives us stability and thanks to the large research grant we get a unique opportunity to develop precision medicine for patients with peripheral vascular disease", says Ulf Hedin, Professor and research group leader of the Vascular Surgery group at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery.
