Cardiology – Per Tornvall's research group

The focus of the research group is general cardiology including atrial fibrillation, heart failure and ischemic heart disease. The overall aim of the research is to improve quality-of-life and prognosis, and to minimize risks of interventions for large patient groups by clinical, epidemiological and interventional studies.

Projects

Atrial fibrillation

There are three main projects including studies of (1) the risk of electric cardioversion with or without anti-coagulation, including new oral anti-coagulants, (2) the risk of sotalol to maintain sinus rhythm and (3) the influence of atrial fibrillation on blood pressure. The studies are mainly observational.

Heart failure

The main focus is on takotsubo syndrome with studies of (1) heritability of takotsubo including genome-wide association studies, (2) diagnostic studies including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiography and (3) treatment of stress and anxiety with internet-based interventions (randomized). There is also a mechanistic study on iron deficiency in heart failure, mainly with preserved ejection fraction.

Ischemic heart disease

Research cover four main areas and include studies of (1) the values of oxygen during admission for myocardial infarction and beta-blockers after myocardial infarction with preserved ejection fraction, (2) diagnostic algorithms for patients with chest-pain and the importance of socioeconomy, family history and other risk factors, from the emergency room to diagnosis with myocardial infarction, during secondary prevention to incident cardiovascular disease during long term follow-up, (3) the effects of new anti-diabetic treatments on coronary healing and restenosis after PCI, and (4) the assessment of the risk-benefit relationship between bleeding and ischemia in patients including a randomized trial evaluating Helicobacter Pylori screening to prevent upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The studies are observational and randomized.

Collaborations

Collaborators include other institutions at Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University and SciLife Laboratory.

Research support

Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation
Patient organization Heart and Lung

Publications

Selected publications